Splatoon - Duel
by TheStoriesCentral
Summary: Kthulhu, after his first match, his popularity rises, much to his chagrin. Days later, crap kinda hits the fan during a turf war match, where he meets some inklings in the opposing that are not exactly the friendly-type. Now, he have to deal his first few enemies that will do everything to destroy him. Luckily, he met new friends and allies that would help him.
1. New Allies and New Enemies

**=The Beat Drop=**

A few days, specifically three days later after Kthulhu's first match, he is now at Level 9, wearing Red-Check Shirt, a Safari Hat, and a pair of Black Seahorses, and occasionally joins his new friends, Verique and Yeran in Turf War matches, but still keeps an impressive solo record. He still acts the same; quiet, chill, collected, and somewhat deadpanned. He now works in Ammo Knights as a part timer for living in its basement.

After he got the Splat Roller, his reputation somehow rises a little for his skilful plays with it, as he swings it in more than creative and deceiving ways. This also happens right after he bought and used the Blaster, as he landed almost every shot directly at his opponents, making him a terror in the battlefield.

With this rise of popularity, however, Kthulhu is pretty much uncomfortable after the popularity rise. Everythime he is in the plaze, tons of squids approaches him either to get his autograph, invite him in turf war matches, or to just say how they like his strange playstyle. He dislikes this kind of attention he got, but inside, he appreciates the support and admiration he was given, he just doesn't show it in his deadpanned expression.

In this specific moment, we will see how Kthulhu's normal day, became something he didn't expect.

* * *

 _CRAANG! CRAA-_ The alarm clock was immediately smashed by Kthulhu's fist. This is the third time this week he smashed his own clock. He will be broke in a few days for paying for new clocks…

Kthulhu woke up in the basement of the Ammo Knights, he then goes to his daily routine; brush his teeth, get dress, and get out of the basement.

As he got out of the basement, he is greeted by his horseshoe crab guardian, Sheldon, "Good Mornin', Kthulhu!"

 _Morning,_ He signed back.

"Breakfast is ready, Kthulhu, made by none other than Crusty Sean himself!"

 _Again, huh?_ He and Sheldon always eat Crusty Sean's food, as far as he knew, Sheldon is not much of a cook.

"What else could it be?"

The two proceed on eating their morning breakfast; Kthulhu's eating Scwaffle, and Sheldon's eating Seanwich. As always, Sean's cooking is great.

"Hey, Kthulhu," Sheldon called, "Sorry to ask, but, how long have you not seen your sister?"

He froze at the name. _Sister…_ He then pulls out his Index and Middle Finger, indicating he hasn't seen her in two years.

"Two years, eh?" Sheldon then looked at Kthulhu sadly, but his expression lightens up, and continued, "I apologize for telling you sooner, but would you believe me your sister is here in Inkopolis?"

He then glanced up at Sheldon, _Where?_ He signed, his hands are so quick that Sheldon can't tell what he is trying to say, even if he doesn't know much about Inkling Sign Language.

"You mean 'where is she', correct?" Kthulhu nodded quickly, "Well, she is not here at the moment, as she is visiting your mother. When she will return, I have no idea, but you will have to wait and find out. I'll tell if she did."

Kthulhu considers himself lucky, as he is not ready to face her sister. He continues to eat his Scwaffle until it's gone down to his stomach. He thanks Sheldon for the food and information about his sister, then grabs his Roller, and heads out of the Ammo Knights and to the Tower where he goes into matches.

* * *

Let's just say, he did not win as many matches as he wanted and planned to win.

He only won thrice, and it is overwhelmed by five losses, thanks to crappy teammates who don't know how to shoot, use proper gear, not inking turf, and chargers who has god-awful aim.

He somehow kept his cool. He looked at his watch; it was 11:29AM. He decided to go for another match despite the losing streaking he is getting right now, before he goes for a break and go somewhere to eat.

He is in the Blue Team, and their opposing team's color is Orange. A typical color clash, he thought. His team consists of a Charger, two Shooters, and himself, the Roller. The match is about to begin in a few minutes, so the other Inklings decided to talk to each other before it begins. Meanwhile, he leans his back at the wall, waiting for the match to start.

A moment after he did, he is approached by an Inkling that looks like an adult, his an inch taller than Kthulhu, has spiky hair, tan complexion, and he is on his team. He is the other shooter, carrying a Custom Splattershot Jr. with him, wears Retro Gamer Jacket, Gold Hi-horses and Studio Headphones.

"'Sup, dude, having a salty mornin'?" the adult-looking Inkling asked, "The now-well-known Kthulhu seems to be droppin' down from the ranks."

He looked at him. He simply nodded. He is not really having a great time thanks to that.

"I figured. My name's Anthur, DJ here from the suburbs of Inkopolis. People call me DJ Anth4." He held out his fist to Kthulhu, inviting him in a fist bump.

He looked at it in a few moments, and bumps his own to Anthur's.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Kthulhu," Anthur said, "I've heard a lot of good things about you, lately, after you got yourself known here in Inkopolis. Your solo record sure is promising, and I hope that I can see you in action personally."

He nodded in acknowledgement.

"So, you're mute. Heh, I get that, I know someone who has the same conditions as yours. You can communicate with me with sign language, if you know how to sign."

 _I do_ He immediately signed.

"Then we will get along pretty well," He smiled, scratching his head, before he can continue to speak, Judd is heard reminding the players to be prepared in thirty seconds. He sighed, "'aight, looks like the match's startin'. Get yourself ready, and we shall see how you roll with that Roller." He then gets back in line, preparing for battle.

Thirty seconds passed, the two teams have been teleported away, teleported to Port Mackarel.

* * *

Thirty seconds has passed during the game, the Blue team looks like they are dominating. They have the center of the map under their control already, and the Orange team begins to go on defensive. The Blue team surprisingly struggled going on offensive, thanks to an Inkling Girl that equipped an E-Liter that seems to be taking the lead on the defensive position, yet they also struggle on going offensive thanks to the opposing team's relentless assault. This lasts for at least a minute.

The Blue Team's meets up, while the charger throws ton of bombs at the enemy to keep them at bay.

"Alright," Anthur said in a stoic and serious voice, "This won't get both teams anywhere at this rate. You, with the Dual Squelcher, you and the charger boy there must keep them at bay as long as possible, me and Kthulhu here will sneak up on the other team and take one or two of them out for the two of you to finish off the last three or two. I'll be signalling 'Booyah' if we succeed, if you see it, proceed to attack. This plan will be in effect now!"

The Squelcher Inkling nodded, as she goes to the charger to help keep the other team still in their positions.

"Let's do this, Kthulhu," he then looks at Kthulhu, "I wanna see how stealthy you are."

Kthulhu nodded, as he followed, as they go to the other side of the crate. As they are on the way behind the enemy lines, they meet up with two other of the opposing team mates. The one from the left carries a bamboozler, wears an Aloha Shirt, a Headband, and Red Sea-Slugs. While on the right wears a black bandanna with the skeleton jaw as the design, Black Leather Jacket, and Punk White Boots, that also carries a Jet Squelcher.

"Apparently they have the same idea," Anthur remarked, "And screw me sideways, they are also my big 'fans'."

"HEY! It's the DJ Idiot is here with the new squid!" the one from the left, in Kthulhu's point of view, yelled to his comrade, "We have a lucky catch here! Let's beat the bitch!"

 _Yeah, big fans_ Kthulhu signed sarcastically.

The one from the right threw a burst bomb at them. Kthulhu and Anthur backed away from the explosion radius, and charges forward, with Kthulhu inking the path for them. The one that yelled started charging up his Bamboozler. It took only a millisecond for it to charge, and proceeds shooting the charger, directly at Kthulhu. His left hand have let the roller go and leaned to the right, dodging the charger shot that also almost hit Anthur, while keeping his momentum and gets his left hand grip on the roller again. This surprised Anthur, and the two Inklings, but recovered quickly.

The Squelcher Inkling then starts firing shots at the two with the Bamboozler. He got some hits on him till the point that he can get splatted in one more hit of a fully charged bamboozler shot, or a burst bomb. The Bamboozler saw this opportunity, and he took it by directing the next shot at Kthulhu, who, as expected, dodged, while his left hand is not holding the roller, and instead hits Anthur in the foot, staggering him and loses his momentum.

The Squelcher boy then threw a burst bomb to finish the two.

Kthulhu quickly notices it as soon as it left his hand. What they don't know, is that he can lift his current roller with one hand without difficulty and with extreme force. He then, uses great force to swing the roller upwards, hitting the Burst Bomb by end of the roller, home running the Burst Bomb to space. He continues his charge with the surprised Anthur. He then throws a suction bomb behind them, making them back for it.

The second they turn, Kthulhu is already airborne; roller is raised, ready to roll. Kthulhu then swings his roller down at the Bamboozler, hitting his head first, splatting him in one-shot. The Squelcher boy is about to shoot him, but a Disruptor hits the Squelcher boy in the head, debuffing him entirely. Anthur then aims his Splattershot Jr. at the inkling, before firing it, though; he flashed his signature toothy grin, showing off his long left fang. The Squelcher got splatted.

"You are full of surprises, Kthulhu, I'll give you that," He looked at him, eyes filled with awe. Kthulhu, looked over his shoulder to see him, before looking away, pulling out a thumbs up. The two then proceeds to the end of the container in their squid forms.

"The two dunces were splatted?! For the love of-" The Inkling girl wearing Dark Urban Vest, Black Seahorses, and Camping Hat that has the E-Liter yelled, but got cut off, after she saw the two inklings she does not want to see. Anthur, then shouted, 'Booyah', as he throws the Disruptor at the E-Liter Inkling. She immediately backed off, and also barely dodged a charger shot from the Blue Team. As she desperately threw a Burst Bomb at her position and shoots out a quick shot behind her, and attempted to swim away in her squid form.

Kthulhu then threw a suction bomb ahead of her, and she briefly turned to human, shoots another quick shot to the side, and swam there, avoiding the Suction Bomb. The Charger boy in the Blue Team has arrived and started charging his shot to shoot at the E-Liter Inkling. Unfortunately, a teammate of hers has arrived as well via Super Jump, which has a Spatling, and deploys a splash wall behind her, preventing any shots to be landed behind it. He then proceeds on providing suppressive fire with his Splatling, while the E-Liter girl also starts firing shots as she retreats, splatting the Blue Team's charger in the process.

Kthulhu, then flings his Splat Roller once more, getting his special up once again. He then goes in front of the splash wall in a safe distance, whilst dodging shots from the splatlings and the E-Liter. He gets his Killer Wail up and deployed it down directly at them. The two opposing inklings quickly tried to escape out of the way of the Killer Wail attack.

A second later after he deployed the Killer Wail, it lets out an ear deafening screech in the direction its facing. They dodged it, but somehow he got two splats with it. He might've surprisingly hit the two inklings they have encountered earlier. Damn, what luck he got…

The two already escaped the area. He then proceeds to cover the area ink with the other two shooters.

"Nice job, there, Kthulhu," Anthur commented, as he smirked, with his signature long left fang shown, "You truly are full of surprises."

 _You too, an-tour_ He signed.

He chuckled after seeing what his hands gestured, "Alright, let's dominate this game."

* * *

 **Blue Team – 74.2**

 **Orange Team – 17.5**

* * *

The Blue Team cheered for their crushing victory, Kthulhu silently cheered for the Blue Team while keeping a neutral expression, satisfied in their victory. While on the other team, the E-Liter is scolding them, specifically the Squelcher and the Bamboozler, for their incompetence. The Blue Team got their reward from Judd.

As Anthur and Kthulhu waved goodbye to the two other of their team, they confront the Squelcher Boy and the Bamboozler, with glares formed in their eyes.

"You guys again, eh?" Anthur said to the two Inklings that are glaring at him, "What now, autographs?"

"There you go again, stealing the fucking spotlight once again!" The Bamboozler yelled at Anthur angrily, "You are becoming too reliant to this bitch Kthulhu here, and that is also why you guys win, you fuckin' bitches RELIED on HIM!"

Kthulhu shook his head. _Déjà vu,_ he thought, reminding what Yeran had said to him afew days earlier.

"Salty? You would do the same anyway; except, you will make him do all the dirty work," Anthur playfully retorted as his signature fang showed up, "Especially how incompetent you really are, Yudius, can't aim for crap."

"Heh, coming from the worse sniper in history," Yudius retorted back, "You have already taken many shit away from me, thanks to you! Me and Terof are now teamless, FUCKIN' AGAIN! THANKS TO YOU!" He then glares at Kthulhu, who still keeps a neutral expression. "YOU! KTHULHU!"

Kthulhu then stared at him deadpanned.

"I challenge YOU to a one-v-three battle!"

Anthur stared at Kthulhu, anxiety plastered on his face. Kthulhu keeps his neutral expression, while contemplating on the challenge.

"You can't turn this challenge, Kthulhu! You'll be the one who will decide this wanker's and your own fate!" Yudius threatened, "Deny, and we'll throw all of you out of the city broken."

Kthulhu then stares at Anthur, who seemed to be in disbelief. He then stares back at Yudius, his espression is smug and mad. He then went to deep thought, contemplating. He doesn't have any way out of this predicament.

He has no other choice anyway, so he just simply nodded about that duel.

"Great, tomorrow morning, 9:00AM Sharp." Yudius, then motioned Terof to follow him as he walk away.

As they move out of earshot and sight, Anthur then shot an apologetic look at Kthulhu, feeling guilty, "I'm sorry I dragged you in my own mess. They have been blaming their faults at me since the beginning of my career as a DJ, probably because I always dominate them in every match."

 _Don't worry about it,_ he signed, _I've been through worse than this. I'll handle this_

"Hope you are right. Let me warn you, they will always play dirty, and they will be aggressive to any opponent, especially when they are targeting a lone player, even if it's outside or inside turf wars."

He simply nodded in acknowledgement. He has dealt with those kinds of guys before; he can take care of himself.

"Aside the events that happened earlier, I am impressed with your performance in that match, you are one sack full of surprises. You are real agile, dodging those bamboozler shots like a boss, and you have swung that roller upwards with only one hand and hit that homerun perfectly. That's not how usually Level 9 players play; you act like a high ranking player. Are you a smurf?"

Kthulhu gave him a quizzical look, and shook his head.

"Huh, thought you would deny, but anyway, how about we grab something to eat, my treat. You in?"

Kthulhu nodded, followed up with his stomach growling in agreement.

He chuckled lightly, "Your stomach seems to agree, eh? Alright, let's go get some grub."

And there, the two went off to find lunch, enjoying their times as new friends.

* * *

 **A/N** \- New story is up! **Splatoon - Duel**!

This will not gonna be a one-shot story like my first Splatoon Fic, this will be a six-chapter story (i've update this too many times lol), with a bonus chapter. This will be cross-posted to other websites.


	2. The Plan

"Zem with zheir shite, again?" Verique said, with venom tainted his voice, "Yudius is always like zat since ze beginning."

"They seriously duel you because of that specific reason?" Yeran asked, eyebrows rose, "They must be so salty to duel you on a one-v-three."

 _You could say that_ Kthulhu signed, _they are real salty alright._

"Damn, hope you go through their brutal beatings if you win. They really wanted to go on top, even if means beating anyone to pulp."

"I dunno, lad," Verique looked at Kthulhu worryingly, "Challenging them will either result on being broken to 'ze core, or be beaten into a pulp. Some starters zat are victims of 'zeir vile actions either leave, retire, or even commit suicide."

"We are victims as well, but we manage to stand strong against them, but they are stubborn and relentless, and they will bluff to scare anyone. We tried to report them, but... they will…" Yeran then looked down.

He looked at the two inklings; Yeran is looking down in either sadness or anger, Verique is gazing somewhere else, in deep thought.

If Yudius and his gang truly have been doing that to their victims, he has to do something, even if it means getting beaten up. He needs to stop them at all cost. He clapped his hands to get their attention to him. The two glanced at him, eyebrows raised. He then started to sign.

 _I'll take care of them. If what you say is true, which is likely, I will expose them of their crimes. I promise that for you two, Anthur and the victims._

Yeran looked in shock and surprise, while Verique looked at Yeran, waiting for her to translate what Kthulhu have signed to them.

Verique asked, "What did he sign, Yeran?"

"You're not serious are you?" Yeran asked, dread filled her voice, "You don't know them, but you plan to expose them?!"

"Expose them? You mean Yudius and his gang? Kthulhu, don't do 'zis. We don't want you to risk your life just to report them to the Officials, and 'zey are as deceiving as they look. You really want to do zhis? We don't want anything bad happens to you, since zis is your first few days and first week here in Inkopolis, and you already got beaten up by some punk bastards."

 _I will,_ He signed, finalizing his decision, _I promise I will, no matter what happens to me._

Anxiety took over Yeran and Verique, and looked at each other, faces expresses their anxious state. Yeran then looked at Kthulhu, and said, "You are taking the weight of the responsibility on your shoulders like its nothing. You don't look scared at all."

 _I am determined to do this_ He signed, _They don't faze me, and I have no time to be fazed or scared to them._

"You sure are stupidly brave," she commented, as she scratches her head, "I somehow like that notion of yours. Alright, I and Verique will help you expose them! You're in, right Verique?" She looked at Verique expectantly.

"We won't let you do 'zis alone, so why not?" Verique joins in, with a determined expression on his face, "We are tired of zheir shite anyway, so we have to take 'zem out of 'ze turf war games once and for all!"

"Heh, cheesy nerd," she muttered, then looks at Kthulhu "Alright; looks like we are now in this mess, then let's plan what we shall do to expose them, and how we will expose them to the Officials. Any ideas, boys?"

The two inkling boys then started to think of any ideas for their plan. _Hmm, what to do, what to do, what do,_ He said in his head. What would be the perfect plan to expose of them of their brutal treatment? He can't think of any suitable plan for this one.

"I got it," Verique finally said, for a long time, eyes of the two other inklings are on him, waiting expectantly, "I got the perfect lure for them."

"Alright, that's that," Verique finished, "Everyone will see how brutal he really acts."

"That's perfect, but, how can we tell them about this?" Yeran asks, "They seem to be busy turf warring and things."

"No worries, we are friends with 'zhem, 'zey'll understand. We just need to tell 'zhem our plan and the reason for it, then, 'zey would help us take 'zhose bastards out of the Turf War Games. We can save everyone and 'zere won't be any fear 'zat will the inklings feel!"

"Geez, you make us sound like superheroes, comic geek."

"It's cool! You know how I loved them, Verique, and my dream to become one!"

"Keep dreaming."

Kthulhu clapped his hands, grabbing the attention of the bantering squids.

"Alright back to 'ze topic. As of now, 'zey are at Level 30, and 'zey have hell of powerful equipment on their disposal, you will be fight one-v-three, so you'll be fighting a charger, a shooter, and a roller. You're still at Level 9, so you might be in a disadvantage with 'zat equipment of yours, and 'zey would likely to use tinkered weapons."

 _Tinkered weapons, huh?_ He signed,

"I would recommend you to use one," Yeran suggested, "Don't worry; it's not cheating when you guys are on a private match."

 _If you say so…_

"Alright, before we do 'zis, let's go buys gear," Verique said, as he fixes his hat, "I need to be my performance be as efficient as needed."

"I guess I should change as well," Yeran said, agreeing, "Maybe you should change as well, Kthulhu."

Kthulhu contemplates about changing his gear. He just did that yesterday, and he is comfortable in his current gear at the moment, so he shook his head in refusal.

"Well suit yourself. We have time, let's go get gear and let's go play Turf War to level you up to 13!" She then drags the two Inkling boys to Booyah Base to go shopping.

"H-hey! Don't drag us like 'zat!" Verique complained, as they are dragged away to Booyah Base.

3:09 PM

"Alright! The three Musquidteers is victorious once again!" Yeran cheered as they claim their reward.

Yeran is now wearing CoroCoro Hoodie, Short Beanie, and Hunter High Tops, also now carries a Bento Splattershot, and Verique is now wearing White Shirt, Five-Panel Cap, and Mawcasins, and uses N-Zap '85. Kthulhu is still wears the same, but now carries a Carbon Roller Deco for curiosity. It is the lightest of the rollers he ever used, and can lift it with one hand, but he got lesser splats and more ink coverage. He still prefers the first Splat Roller.

He now has a win streak with the Three Musquidteers; about seven wins in a row. He quickly levels up to Level 13, unlocking many weapons after a few more matches. Right now, he'll be using the said weapon for a few more matches before going back to the original splat roller.

"Once again, good work, everyone," Verique congratulated the other two members of the Three Musquidteers, "'Zat six in a row now. We got good 'zis afternoon for some reason."

"It's because we got good gear now!" Yeran said, "When we got new things, there is a high chance of getting good!"

 _That happens occasionally_ Kthulhu signs, agreeing.

"Hrm, that is true…"

"Anyway, Kthulhu, you're Level 13 now! And you did great with the Carbon Roller! Although, you have lesser splats than you normally get, you got more ink score than this nerd over here." Yeran points at Verique.

Verique huffed and narrowed his eyes at Yeran. But his expression turned back to a serious one and looked at Kthulhu, "Alright, Kthulhu, with 'ze way you play the Turf War Games now, you have 50/50 chance to win a one-v-three. Now, your problem is; what weapon will you use?"

"Why so, Verique? Isn't he already good enough with the Rollers?" Yeran questioned.

"He's good enough with 'ze weapons we have seen him use. What I mean is 'zat _**what**_ weapon will be good for him to fight in a one-v-three." He reasoned, "First off, you've seen him use 'ze charger, he's not as good. Second, he has three players 'zat will be against him; a roller, a shooter, and a charger. You get what I mean right? 'Ze Roller will be 'ze one to keep him at back, 'ze Shooter will be 'ze one to deal damage and throw bombs, and 'zen 'ze Charger, will either suppress him down, or finish him off with a bang.

"If he uses 'ze roller, he will have a hard time dealing with 'ze charger, alongside 'ze roller, as polar opposites are sometimes a very deadly combo. He can deal with 'ze shooter just fine, but he has to deal with 'ze said weapons.

"If he uses 'ze blaster, he needs to be quick and accurate, as I know 'zat their roller is one hell of a fast and furious roller, and will splat him at any chance he can get.

"If he uses any Shooters beside 'ze Blaster, he have a fair advantage against the other Shooter and Roller, but he might have a disadvantage-"

"Bruh, he just destroyed me in his first match and he uses a freaking Splattershot Jr.!"

"This is different, Yeran. He uses a Bamboozler; he can shoot like many shots with that thing."

"Ugh, whatever," She then looked at Kthulhu, "So, man, what do you think you would use for your duel with Yudius? Tomorrow's your fated day, you have to prepare yourself. So, what will it be?"

The two looks at him expectantly, waiting for an answer from him about the weapon he'll be using, which is his choices is the roller, the blaster, or the shooter. The possibilities Verique have mentioned earlier is somewhat… possible, which has put him in a bad spot.

He needs to think about this some other time other than tomorrow.

 _Not now_ He signed, _I'll think about this later. I'm too tired to think about it right now._

"Well, take care, alright?" Verique said, "And good luck with your duel tomorrow, and also a good rest, you need it."

"Ok, tomorrow's the day the plan will initiate, and the day Yudius' gang will be gone in the city!" She then raises her fists into the air. "Alright, Musquidteers! Let's give our all tomorrow! For everyone!" The three Musquidteers simultaneously raises their fists, indicating their newfound resolve to remove Yudius' gang out of the Turf War Games.

The three Musquidteers then puts their fists down and parted ways with a goodbye, excluding Kthulhu of course.

Kthulhu is on his way to the Ammo Knights, he was thinking of what weapon he will be tinkering later with Sheldon. For the first time in his life, he is stumped on choosing for the time being. No, he was just overthinking the possibilities Verique have mentioned. This might be the perfect opportunity to test his strength after the training he went through. He believes himself and his friends, the plan will work-

His train of thoughts were stopped on its tracks by something bumping him. No, not something, _someone_ bumping into him, as he heard an "oof" in front of him. He then glances forward to see who bumped into him.

It was an Inkling girl that is wearing a green hat, green jacket, cycling shorts that seem unusually long for an inkling girl, and green trainers. She has fair skin, white hair with green tips that is tied like a ribbon. She seems familiar, like he has seen her somewhere. She is sitting on the ground, might be because of you-know-what.

He then offers his hands to her to help her stand up. She then glanced at him; she has golden eyes that have a star shaped design in front of it. She accepted the offer, and she stands up with the help of Kthulhu.

"I'm sorry, sir," She apologized, and bows her head apologetically; "I wasn't looking at my direction."

He then started to sign; _My apologies,_ Although he has no idea if she knew how to understand sign language.

"Oh, uhh, sir, I don't really know how to-" She stopped herself, and stares at his face. Her eyes widened, maybe in realization, "Are you Kthulhu?"

He nodded.

"You are him!" She exclaimed, she then offers him a handshake, "Nice to meet you, my name's Marie."

 _Marie?_ He knows that name. She is a member of the Squid Sisters. He then gladly accepted the offer and shook her hand. They let go immediately after.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you." She apologizes once again, "I was… in deep thought."

Kthulhu pulled out his phone, and typed something in the IM. He then showed it to Marie, the text shows, _I am too._

She chuckled lightly, "Glad I'm not the only one.

"So, uhh, Sir Kthulhu-" She is stopped once again, by Kthulhu puts his hand, his index finger pulled out, a few inches away from her face. He then typed something once again, and showed it to her.

 _No need to call me Sir Kthulhu. I'm not a knight._

She cracked a smile at the text, "Heh, if you say so, Kthulhu. So, are you busy right now?"

He texted, _If going to the Ammo Knights counts as me being busy, then yes. Why do you ask?_

"Eh, I just feel like asking. I am kinda tired after all those work."

 _Wait here for a moment._ He then proceeds to go to the "Musquidteers" chatroom.

 _ **CoolThulhu**_ joined the conversation.

 _ **CoolThulhu**_ _:_

 _I have news_

 _ **NerdyFashionista**_ _:_

 _they better be gud news, lad_

 _ **GeekyCamperSniper**_ _:_

 _yeh, k, they bettr b_

 _ **CoolThulhu**_ _:_

 _I met up with a Squid Sister here, Marie._

 _ **GeekyCamperSniper**_ _:_

 _no way, u srs?!_

 _come on, k, pruv it by tking a selfie with her!_

 _ **CoolThulhu**_ _:_

 _Ok, gimme a sec._

He typed the words, _Look at the texts,_ and showed it to Marie.

She then looks at the phone to see the texts he is talking about. She chuckled at the names, and texts she is seeing right now. "CoolThulhu, huh? Sounds lame. Anyway, if they want a selfie to prove that you are really seeing me, then, let's do it."

He nodded as he opened in his Squidphone the camera app, flipped the perspective to the camera that is in the upper part of the camera, just a few inches above the screen, and positioned the camera and him for a selfie. He sets the timer to three seconds.

"Alright, ready when you are, Kthulhu."

He then taps the button, and the timer's starts counting down, as Marie flashes her signature smile, her right hand is raised slightly to the height of her face, with fingers fixed into a 'peace sign.' While Kthulhu's left hand is in his chin, fingers fixed into a check.

3… 2… 1… _Snap_!

The selfie has taken.

He then sends it to the group chat.

 _ **CoolThulhu**_ _:_

 _*Insert selfie of Kthulhu and Marie*_

 _Here._

 _Believe me now?_

 _ **NerdyFasionista**_ _:_

 _dat's her, alrayt._

 _u are lucky to c her now b4 we do_

 _ **GeekyCamperSniper**_ _:_

 _quick, k, tell her about our plan!_

 _this is da perfect opportunity_

 _ **CoolThulhu**_ _:_

 _You two tell her._

 _I'm too lazy to type._

 _She can't understand sign language._

 _ **GeekyCamperSniper**_ _:_

 _we need to now, tho_

 _ **NerdyFashionista**_ _:_

 _he's right_

 _we already told ourselves that we will tell them about our plan_

 _so tell her that we r calling her in inkopolis tower._

 _ **GeekyCamperSniper**_ _:_

 _tell her i say hi, k?_

 _see ya latr_

 _ **CoolThulhu**_ _:_

 _Ok, I'll do that. See ya_

He then typed once again the words _Yeran and Verque wants to meet you at Inkopolis Tower_ , then showed it to her.

She read the text. After she read it, she glanced up at Kthulhu, her eyes widened, "You are friends with Yeran and Verique?" Kthulhu nodded, "I never knew they were friends with you. How lucky the two are…

"Anyway, what do they want me for?"

 _You ask them,_ he answered vaguely with the phone, _They want to discuss an important things with you and Callie._

"Strange…" Marie commented, "It's unusual of them to call a meeting with me and Callie to discuss such important matters."

He then types a new message and showed it to Marie, _Speaking of Callie, where is she?_

"Ehh-"

"Marie, I'm back!" Marie was interrupted by feminine voice.

"That's-" she points behind him, "-the answer to your question."

He looks behind him to see who she is pointing at. He sees an inkling that is at the same height as Marie, black tentacle hair with purple-tips that, like Marie's, is tied like a ribbon, but her hair is much longer than Marie's. She wears a pair of black shades, a pink tee, default female shorts, and pink trainers. She carries four bags, two on each hand. She is running towards the two.

"Eiy, Marie, who's the guy-"she suddenly stopped running, her mouth agape. Awkward silence ensues, as Marie and Kthulhu is staring at each other, and occasionally glances back and forth to the frozen Callie.

Finally, after thirty seconds, which felt like eternity, Callie gasped loudly, and her shades is threatening to fall, showing the upper half of the Callie's eyes that is similar to Marie's. "Are you the 'Kthulhu?!'"

He typed one simple word and showed to Marie, _Sisters,_ without breaking his gaze on Callie. She huffed and looked away.

He answered Callie by nodding in confimation.

"Oh my COD!" She then runs to Kthulhu, grabbing his hand, and shakes it rapidly in excitement. She seems so excited, "I'm Callie! It's so nice to finally meet you!"

Excited might have been an understatement...

He then looked at Marie, who is containing her amusement at the moment. He manages to mouth out a word, _Help_ , which is an unusual thing for him to mouth. He is not the one to call out for help. Luckily, Marie seems to understand, and said, "Hey, Callie, I think you're weirding him out."

 _You are not helping, Marie…_ He thought, deadpanned.

Callie finally let go of his hand, "I'm sorry, I couldn't really contain my excitement."

He then writes a text from his phone, _It's alright, I've been encountering my inkling fans in a regular basis. I got used to it. And yes, I am mute._

Callie was about to ask that if he is mute until he saw the last few words in his message.

"Yes, Callie, he is mute," Marie remarked, "I bet he was asked about that a hundred times already."

Actually, only three of his friends have asked that. He then texted, _I was asked only three times, actually._ The text is shown to both sisters.

"Not even close, Marie," Callie snickered.

"I said it in a figurative-speech," Marie countered.

"Whatever you say," she then looked back at Kthulhu, and asked, "So, uhh, what brings you here, by the way? Hitting on my sister?" She cracked a sly smile at Marie. Her cheeks started to get a lime glow, maybe flustered. She was able to keep her composure, though.

"Yeah, said by my sister who may or may not be crushing on a guy that is just between us," she retorted, and her sister's cheeks glows bright pinkish purple. Kthulhu founds himself in a tight spot of the two sisters.

"L-like you're the one to talk! You got awfully embarrassed when I mention Kthulhu!"

"You too, you know! You've been blushing before you even start talking about him."

"I'm not!"

 _Hoo-boy,_ He thought. He does not like his position right now, but he is amused of the two sister's relationship.

"Yeah, like your face says anything, Cal."

"Back at you, Mar!"

Kthulhu, looks at his watch; it is 3:32PM. He really needs to go back at the shop, and ask Sheldon for assistance in tinkering weapons. He needs to find a way to get out of the middle of the two sisters fast.

He already has an idea for that.

He claps his hand to get the attention of the sisters, which did, they stop bantering and looked at him expectantly, their cheeks still glows. He then pulls out his phone, types a new message and shows it to them. The text says;

 _I'm single, but sorry ladies, I am not available._

 **DOUBLE REJECTION**

He had an urge to include, _and I have no interest on either of you_ , but he figured that's just plain rude to show to the two lovely ladies.

The two blankly stares at Kthulhu, but they couldn't hide their disappointment after receiving that damn text. Though, their cheeks started to glow a little brighter than ever.

He then deletes the text he had shown earlier, and decided to make a new one. He then types a more serious message, which says, _Back to the more important things. Marie, tell her what I have said earlier to you._

Marie's cheeks' bright color quickly fades, as she got back her usual calm demeanor, and looks at Callie, "Anyway, Callie; Yeran and Verique are calling a meeting for only the four of us in the tower. It seems pretty urgent, according to Kthulhu."

Callie, whose cheeks' color also returned to normal, and replied, "He's friends with them, too? How lucky…"

"You could say that again…"

"Anyway, they are calling a meeting about what?"

"I have no idea. We will see soon if we go there in time. Kthulhu doesn't seem to know either, so I guess our best bet is to meet the two in the said location."

"Then let's get going!" She then looks back at Kthulhu, and asked, "What about you, Kthulhu? You're joinin' us?"

"Nah, he is going to the Ammo Knights," Marie answered for him, "Buying weapons, probably."

"Aww, too bad…" Callie couldn't hide her disappointment, but she gets backs to her usual cheery expression, "Alright! We won't let us keep you for long!"

"If Yeran and Verique need us, then we will be there for them."

He then typed, _Alright then, I'll see you soon._

"Before we go," Callie pulls out her phone, "Let's exchange numbers! Since you are friends with the said squids, you are friends with us as well!"

"I agree." Marie fishes out her phone as well.

He nodded, as they proceed to the process of exchanging numbers. He then, texted to the two sisters after they receiver the number of the sisters, _I should get going now. You two, also; Yeran and Verique are waiting._

"We'll see you soon, then, Kthulhu," Marie said, as she puts her phone back, "Let's go Callie."

The sisters waved goodbye to the sisters, as they walk away to the Inkopolis. Kthulhu waved back, before and until they are out of sight. He then proceeds to walk back to Ammo Knights; he got a job to do.


	3. Faith and Trust

Few minutes passed after Kthulhu's first meeting up with the ever so popular pop idol duo, the Squid Sisters, he has returned back to Ammo Knights. He then entered the shop, and the first thing he saw was an inkling that is about at the age of 17-19, black complexion, and has five tentacle hair that are tied up. He wears a blue jacket with fur in the hood and every openings, light blue shirt, black pants, and blue sneakers.

His most notable features are his eyes; the eyeballs are all pitch black, and it has white, small pupils, like little orbs replace the seemingly empty eye sockets.

He was talking to Sheldon about the new weapons before Kthulhu entered, and was stopped and looked at Kthulhu. He has a shit-eating grin that is plastered in his face.

"Another customer, eh?" He said, "Welcome to-"

"Kthulhu! You have returned!" Sheldon cuts him off as he runs to him with a goofy smile, "You arrive rather early."

"You're Kthulhu, huh? The one that got popular the next day he arrived here the first time?"

"Yes, Zrix, he is the one and only Kthulhu. Now wait at the basement and we will start tinkering for some weapons!"

 _Tinkering?_ He thought. Hrm, this would be his best opportunity to make a custom weapon.

"Hold you sea- **horseshoe** , Sheldon," Zrix said, while Sheldon groans after hearing a pun from him, "I know you are excited to tinker, but right now, I wanna introduce myself here to Kthulhu." He then approaches Kthulhu, as he held out his hand for a handshake. "The name's Zrix Denur; nice to finally meet ya, Kthulhu."

Kthulhu then grabs his hand and is about to shake it…

 **PFFFFFFFFFTTT!**

Kthulhu then heard Zrix snickers. _A whoopie cushion…_

"A whoopie cushion in the hand trick," He said, "It's always funny."

Meanwhile, Sheldon is facepalming, hiding the cringing expression on his face. Kthulhu immediately let go of his hand, and puts it back into his pocket.

"Alright, Zrix, enough of the introduction, and let's get tinkering," Sheldon sternly said to to Zrix, who was still grinning.

"Hey, no need to be so bossy there, you would be stressed out more from **_tinking_** more things to yell at me."

"Keep at saying puns, and I will-"

"Alright, alright, whatever," He cuts him off as he follows Sheldon to the basement.

Before they could, Kthulhu snapped his fingers two times, getting their attention. He then started to sign slowly, _Do you read sign languages, Z-I-R-I-X_.

Zrix looking intently in his hands, he replied with, _Someone taught me, so yeah._

Sheldon sighed, "Well, I feel out of place here, so I'll leave you two alone for a while."

 _Wait_ , Kthulhu signed.

"He said wait, mate," Zrix translated for Sheldon, "If he has something to say with hands, then I can translate it for you."

"Alright, what do you want to say to me?"

He then started to sign about what happened to him earlier; about the Yudius, his gang and the duel, while leaving out the plan he Verique, and Yeran discussed. Zrix perfectly translated everything he signed to Sheldon, while he process on what he just heard. He then finally said, "You truly are in a predicament, Kthulhu."

"I know those guys," Zrix started, his grin is still there, but much smaller, and has a more dangerous feel and aura in it. Kthulhu thought he is not what he seems, "They are the ones who have going around town challenging random players, even the low ranking ones, into a duel. Most of them just quits after losing to them, others disappear right after they either won or lost, and never to be found again. They are also known to be the saltiest players here, and they are not edible to be served into turf war."

"So, you are the next victim of them, right?" Sheldon asked. Kthulhu nodded in confirmation, "Heh, like you would be _a_ victim. Alright, Kthulhu, since there is no turning back into this, I shall assist you, by helping you tinker your first ever modified weapon!"

"Come to **tink** of it, you do need them, since it will be a private match, they will likely to use their own tinkered weapons. Then I'll teach you the basics of customizing a weapon."

"Alright, then it's decided; you Zrix will take care of helping Kthulhu out, and I will be guarding the shop, In case of those salt bags will be visiting the shop."

"Ohh, speak of the devil, they are coming this way."

Kthulhu glances backwards, seeing two familiar squids with a tall and muscly squid that wears a heavy armor, Acerolan Boots, and a Gas Mask. They are coming towards the shop.

"Quick, hide!" Sheldon yelled, as the two squids started to sprint towards the basement, in time not to get caught by the three dangerous squids. Sheldon takes a device out of his pockets and puts it right in the door frame. He then gets into position.

Yudius and his gang enters the shop, grin plastered in his face that is full of malice honey-coated into a confident one. "Yo there, Sheldon," Yudius greets, "How's business doin'?"

"It's great!" Sheldon half-lied, "Business is booming! Speaking of booming, I have new weapons in store!"

"Cool! Whatcha' got in store today?" Yudius asked, genuinely curious.

"Follow me, sir!" Sheldon motions them to follow.

* * *

 **In the basement**

* * *

The two manage to hide in time before Yudius and his gang enter the shop. Fortunately, the basement is enough for them to keep Zrix's voice from escaping the room. Zrix sighed, and said to Kthulhu.

"What a sprint…"

 _Tired already?_ Kthulhu signed.

"Nah, I'm just sayin'. Hope that crab won't get **shell** -shocked in anxiety."

 _He won't._

"I know, he is way too professional to be anxious."

He then approaches the workbench, full of materials, tools, and some unused parts. He sits on the chair, and turned it to face Kthulhu, "Well, here we are. This is where we start customizing things; weapons, gear, whatever you want to modify, create, and other things. Now, tell me the weapon type that I will teach you to customize, by picking one right behind you."

Kthulhu glances behind him; there is a weapon rack with all of the default weapons stored in there; chargers, shooters, rollers, buckets, and many more. He immediately chose the roller, and grabs it from the rack.

"The roller, I see? Heh, well, take it here to the workbench, I'll teach you how to tinker a roller."

* * *

Thirty minutes has passed, and Kthulhu quickly learns the basics of customizing a roller. He was able to change its sub and special, its damage, speed, weight and many more things. Zrix commented that he is one of the most fast learning squids he has ever known.

They finished customizing the roller, and it has burst bombs and inkzooka attached in it. It is a little more light, with lesser flick damage, but can still one-shot an opponent by rolling them flat.

The moment they are finished, Sheldon entered the basement, wiping off sweat from his… forehead? … And wipes out the fog off his goggles.

"Finally, no more Yudius and the gang in the shop," Sheldon said in relief.

"They are here for atleast thirty minutes?" Zrix asked

"Nah, more customers came after they leave."

"Lucky you,"

"Anyway, how are you two holding up modifying a weapon?" Sheldon then changed the subject.

"Progress is rather quick, Sheldon, he is learning faster than anyone I have thought, although he just needs to be more careful on those parts he is using. Other than that, it's a great success."

"Ah, good, because, Kthulhu, since you'll be facing off against Yudius, I'll permit you to use a Dynamo Roller."

Zrix chuckled, his grin is growing wide, "The classic Dynamo Roller. What a beast of a weapon."

 _I'm still at level 13, so I do know I am not fresh enough to handle a Dynamo in turf wars,_ Kthulhu signed, while Zrix translates for Sheldon.

"That is true," Zrix said.

"Heh, it's a private match, not any official turf war matches." Sheldon remarked, "Then again, even in private matches, you are not allowed to carry any weapons that haven't met the level requirements, but I will make sure that to allow you to use the Dynamo for only a match."

 _Seems enough._

"Real confident, Kthulhu," Zrix muttered a comment.

"I'll get a Dynamo Roller from the other storage room," Sheldon then turns to leave, "Zrix, if you would lend me a hand?"

"Here," Zrix pulls out a hand out of his pocket, "Here's a hand."

"What I mean is to help me carry the Dynamo!"

"Heheheh, I'll be back in a minute, K. Wait here, 'kay?"

Kthulhu nodded, as Zrix leaves with Sheldon to get the Dynamo. He pulls out his phone, and opened the IM and entered his group chat, "The Masquidsteers."

He immediately see the past messages, and also two other members. They are named as **BRBSquid** and **marie**. Looks like the Squid Sisters joined in, and Marie did not seem to get a cool nickname. _She might be lazy_ , he thought. He checks the past messages thirty five minutes earlier.

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** _:_

 _geez marie, how bout think about a bettr nn_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _nvm her, she is just lazy_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Don't expect much…_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _she is always like that! lazy as always_

 _marie's quite hopeless in stuff like this_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _n e way, we are not here to consult marie's laziness_

 _so cut d crap for later n lets focus on d our current situation_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** _:_

 _im spying on yudius and his gang rite now_

 _dey havent seen me yet_

 _dey r plnin to humiliate kthulhu right now_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _how despicable!_

 _They really need to go the shell out of inkopolis right now!_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** _:_

 _heh, no worries_

 _i have been recording their convo right now_

 _Smart for her to do that,_ Kthulhu thought. … _also quite risky and dangerous…_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _glad you don't get caught_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _You are one hardcore gal._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** _:_

 _i know! :D_

 _i luv the danger lyfe!_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _keep doing that, yeran_

 _we need much evidence at our advantage_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _just be careful, tho_

 _you getting caught will the last thing we need_

 _and the first thing to be scared of_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _aww, u guys ;-;_

 _don't worry i won't get caught easily_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Any more things they have said?_

 _We need to help Kthulhu as much as possible._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _they also plan to modify the weapons they have bought from ammo knights_

 _weapon yudius carries is another bamboozler_

 _it might be the same one he used the first time he encounter kthulhu_

 _he will surely modify it_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _The Bamboozler_

 _Other weapons?_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _the big guy carries a golden dynamo roller_

 _the one with the bandana has the dual squelcher_

 _those are the only weapons_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Is Kthulhu proficient with Chargers?_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _not good enough to fight off three people_

 _he's not as good as with the roller or the shooter_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _He will be at a disadvantage if he uses either._

 _If he uses the roller, the one with the Golden Dynamo will be trading blows with him._

 _If he uses the shooter, the said Dynamo would either tire him out or will aim for the splat_

 _While the one with the Dual Squelcher will do some damage to him,_

 _And Yudius will likely land a splatting blow to Kthulhu if he is damaged enough._

 _Kthulhu's odds of winning are rather low if he either use both of those weapons._

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _he is really in a bad situation_

 _if he is really proficient with the roller as you said, verique,_

 _what roller do u guys think he will use?_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _carbon or the vanilla splat roller_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _definitely da splat one_

 _n definitely not the dynamo_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _If he didn't, it may not help him as much._

 _Unless he modifies it, that is._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _dat thing's freakin' heavy_

 _even if he did modify it to be light_

 _it will only help him an inch_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _you may never know_

 _he might pull a trick off his sleeve_

 _that guy is full of surprises after all_

 _then again, he is not rly fresh enough to use a dynamo_

Unbeknownst to them, he will be using a Dynamo Roller. Coincidentally, Sheldon and Zrix arrived with the Dynamo Roller.

"Here's the roller," Zrix said, as he puts down the Dynamo down to the desk, "Ready to roll."

"This big girls's real heavy," Sheldon swept off sweat from his… … forehead… it's a really small forehead… "Alright, Zrix, help him out lighten this roller up."

"Sounds like a **bright** idea, boss," Zrix said, "We'll lighten it up with nice LED lights."

Sheldon facepalms.

"Yeah, yeah, we get the idea, now scurry back to the shop, there might be a lot of customers there."

"Be sure to do your job proficiently, you dufus," He then leaves the basement.

"Aight, we will make this Dynamo's weight light like a feather," he then grabs a screwdriver, "It won't take long if we do it together. It will take like ten minutes to reduce the weight of a Dynamo Roller when I am around and with a bud who helps out."

 _You really **T-I-N-K** it won't take that long?_ Kthulhu asked.

"Heh, very punny… and yes, we can do it within the said time. Now, let's not waste time and let's get to tinkerin'!"

* * *

He is not wrong… they really did make the Dynamo light as the Splat Roller within ten minutes, or in this case, they did it under ten minutes.

Kthulhu is currently testing it right now in the testing zone, and he swings it like how he swings his other roller.

"Told ya', it will only take ten minutes to make it light," Zrix proudly said, "Now, your odds against them are rising exponentially."

 _Thanks, Zrix,_ He signed.

"No prob, just helpin' out a friend."

He then leaves the testing zone with Zrix, and met up with Sheldon in the counter. He has a huge grin on his face.

"How's the modified Dynamo?" Sheldon excitedly and curiously asked Kthulhu.

Kthulhu pulls out a thumb up. He then holds the Dynamo with one hand and raised it up from the ground, pointing to the wall like a sword. Sheldon grin is getting wider, who seems to be excited.

"Nice! Now you are ready. Good news, I called the TW Officials so that I can ask for permission to use any modified weapons for only one private match. They accepted for only one match! You have more significant advantage for your match tomorrow!"

"Yeah, they are real generous squids, and since you are friends with them, it is to be expected that they accept it." Zrix remarked. He then looked at his watch; it is 4:18PM, "Oh look at the time. It's my time to go for some Turf Wars. My shift here is done eighteen minutes ago. I apologize, you're on your own for today. Be sure that you remember what I have thought uou earlier if you are going to modify that roller more. I'll be on my way.

"Buuut, before that though," he pulls out his phone, "Exchange numbers. Better contact me about what happened in your duel."

Kthulhu pulls out his phone as well, and types in Zrix's number, and vice versa. Zrix then waved goodbye to Sheldon and Kthulhu, before he leaves the Ammo Knights.

"Well, this day quickly got a big turn of events," Sheldon remarked, "Well, I hope you are certain about your confidence on taking on three big squidiots who doesn't know who they are messing with!"

Kthulhu scratches his head. Sheldon seems to be praising him like a lot.

"Then, I'll give you a day off to prepare for the duel tomorrow! Fighting against three squids must be taken seriously and with responsibility! So go back down to the basement and finish modifying the Dynamo!"

Kthulhu, before going back to the basement, he bowed gratefully, as he proceeds to go back to the basement, and continued tinkering.

* * *

Five minutes later, he is about to finish the process of changing the sub from Sprinkler to Splat Bombs, before he stopped for a short break, fishes out his phone, and checked the Masquidteers. All of the members are entered, with the exception for him, with a few messages left:

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _everyone, r all of u have done ur part of the plan?_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Me and Callie have told them already._

 _We have done ours._

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _yup_

 _it's up 2 u guys now_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _alrite!_

 _got dem clips i send ya rique?_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _yep, just what i needed, thx_

 _alright, now its time to wait for that one certain guy_

The next few messages are just a bunch of things that doesn't seem important for the said plan. It's just some chit-chat between the girls, and Verique haven't sent anything for a good few messages. These messages he is seeing right now are here thirty minutes ago. Everyone seems to be online, so he decides that he joins in the convo.

 ** _CoolThulhu_** joined the conversation.

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _I'm back._

 _What did I miss?_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _hey, welcome kthulhu!_

 _oh, u didn't miss anything unless you have read our convo_

 _a few hours ago_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** :

 _I did._

 _What a dangerous stunt she did back there._

 _Is she alright?_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

ah she's fine, no need to worry

she got out unscathed

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Ah, good._

 _Don't want anyone to get hurt because of this stupid duel thing._

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _no1s gonna get hurt_

 _we promise it_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Hope we keep it that way._

 _So, anyway, you're the only one active for now?_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Hi, K._

 _Nope, I'm here now._

Suddenly, a wild Marie came out of nowhere and joined the convo.

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _took u long enough, sis_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Apologies_

 _The line's way too long._

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _u always say dat evrityme u go 2 the store_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Anyway, welcome aboard, K._

 _Plan's going according to_

 _Y know._

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _I can see that._

 _Good progress._

 _So where are the others?_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _They are busy._

 _Doing their own thing,_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _they have been mking more progress 4 da last 30 mins_

 _speaking of progress_

 _r doing urs?_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _I am doing it now._

 _I'm preparing my roller._

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Roller?_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _so u did chose the roller_

 _heheheheh not a bad choice_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _And yes, I have seen your convo_

 _About what weapon I will choose._

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _I guess nothing will change your mind._

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _So what roller did you choose?_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Wait._

He then opened his camera, and took a pic of the Dynamo Roller. He then send it to the chatroom.

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Here._

 _*Insert Dynamo Roller in the workbench here*_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _The Dynamo?_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Yeran will lose her shet if she saw this…_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _Y tho?_

 _doesn't it look like u will b at a disadvantage_

 _because of it's weight?_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Trust me._

 _The Dynamo is lighter than ever._

 _I will win this._

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _ya sure?_

 _last time i remember when shel make me test the lighter dynamo_

 _it is still heavy,_

 _but its lightness is between a splat and a normal dynamo_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Yes._

 _Have faith in me._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _Whaaat!?_

 _ya choose the dynamo?!_

Suddenly, A wild camper came out of nowhere and joined the conversation.

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Told ya she would lose her shet._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _I just told myself that you won't choose the Dynamo!_

And somehow she is typing properly now. What a surprise…

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Can't stop me now._

 _I have chosen my weapon._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _Why the hell did you choose the Dynamo?_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Sheldon allowed me to burrow it._

 _I take it because I trust his judgement._

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _I dunno_

 _He does know who he'll be fighting, right?_

He too, seems to be typing more properly if things got serious…

Sheldon already knew who he is fighting against, that's why Kthulhu trusts his judgement for weapon of choice.

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _He knows._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _Does he even know_

 _That you are not fresh enough_

 _To wield a Dynamo?_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _He's Sheldon._

 _What else do you expect from the weapon's expert?_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _A weapon's expert_

 _Who seem to be giving off a Dynamo to a low level squid_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _If you worry about the Officials find out_

 _I'm using the Dynamo while I'm still Lvl 13_

 _No worries, they approve of me using the Dynamo_

 _For only one private match_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _This is a different case_

 _I'm not worried about the Officials' approval_

 _Of the use of Dynamos._

 _What I am worried about is_

 _How will you use it tomorrow._

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _I know you m8s concerns,_

 _I am certainly very aware of the odds._

 _But what if I say,_

 _I know how to fight against these odds,_

 _Would you two believe me?_

He is certainly detecting the lack of faith on his friends. And he certainly ain't gonna let that last longer as it is, not when his situation is looming around the corners of time.

He waited for their response.

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _Well,_

 _After the stunts you have attempted a few hours ago,_

 _I guess I believe,_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _Not gonna deny it either,_

 _Your performance is enough to make me believe._

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Ain't that a quick change?_

 _Those are signs of their faithfulness, K_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _b proud of ur friends :D_

 _like me n sis r_

It appears that their faith is still present after all.

He doesn't have many friends ever from where he came from, but when he got a few friends one day, he cherishes it within in his heart, and kept them in memory, even if they are a thousand miles from him.

He will definitely cherish his newfound friends.

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _I am proud_

 _After all,_

 _I wouldn't be this far without Yeran and Verique_

 _I am thankful to have you two here._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _Ahh don't mention it_

 _We wouldn't be this far either without you_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _Things sure became eventful for once in Inkopolis, thanks to you_

 _For the better or worse, that is._

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Heh_

 _Alright, one more question for both of you_

 _Will you trust me in this?_

 _Your trusts are only things I need now_

 _I'm the one who started this; I'll be the one to get us all out as well._

 _Will you two trust me?_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _We will not put trust in you_

 _We will put FAITH on you to do this._

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _Despite the two words are different in meaning_

 _Both still have the same concept in it._

 _So don't worry, we will support you in this_

 _Even if the odds are against us_

He thought being proud of his friends is an understatement.

With his friends put their faiths on him, a massive amount of determination surges through him, as if he can move a mountain away from his path and shrug it off as just a mere obstacle. Those obstacles are his duel opponents that are getting in the way of his and others' freedom. He will not let that last long either.

He started to work on his response.

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Your faith will not be put to waste_

 _I assure that._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _We kno ;)_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Yes I know_

 _Anyway,_

 _How's the plan progressing?_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _Everything is set!_

 _The plan will be in motion tomorrow_

 _All it needs is you_

 _To be prepared of course._

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _We will be waiting for your performance tomorrow_

 _We will be cheering for you in the sidelines! :D_

He felt his face get warmer. Getting cheered from the girl-space-friends will surely flatter Kthulhu.

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _Do you have anything particular to add?_

 _For tomorrow, I mean._

 _You never get too prepared :D_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Well, eh,_

* * *

An hour passed, Kthulhu has finished some details, along with changing the Special from Echolocator to the Kraken. After that, the convo is now filled with random chatter, and Kthulhu returns in modifying the Dynamo for a few minor changes. He finished a few minutes ago, and decides to join dinner with Sheldon, this time with Zrix. His reason is he feels lonely in his apartment so he decided to stay at the Ammo Knights.

That dinner is filled with progress reports, atrociously bad puns, and Sheldon yelling in despair thanks to said puns. Surprisingly, Sheldon's seems to be patient enough to not kick him away from Ammo Knights because of those puns. Give him an award for that.

In short, it was great.

Zrix left right after dinner is finished, but not without enduring his worst nightmare; cleaning dishes. Luckily, Kthulhu is there to help. They had a small chat while they are washing dishes about their lives before going to Inkopolis, random things, and some life lessons from Zrix.

 _"a path is where you go down to your desires, ambitions, and e-t-c, yes, but have a bad mindset and an unclear vision of your goals, and this path you have carved so hard will become a crossroad of confusion,"_

 _"puns are like your friends, some of them are bad, and at the same time, can be annoying, but they are the ones that will lighten your mood like a rising sun helps you stay alive, despite its irony."_

 _"irony flattens :D"_

And that, and that, and that, some random things he is saying to him. A few minutes later, they have finished cleaning the dishes, Zrix hopes that most of his advice can be deemed useful for him in the future, if Kthulhu can win their duel, as he disappear upstairs.

He decided to go back to his room at the basement, goes to the restroom, and brushes his teeth, and hit the hay, or in this case, bed, for tonight. He then decided to check on his chatroom on his phone, as he went past cod knows how many messages it is, and return to where he somehow convinced his friends Yeran and Verique to trust his judgement, and some rather heartwarming words he has read.

He now has enough determination for tomorrow, complete faith in himself, his friends, and he is now prepared to take down Yudius and end his cruel career. He then puts his phone at his pocket, and tries to sleep for tomorrow. Before he went to his dreams, he thought of the words of his friends in the chatroom once again.

Kthulhu – despite being devoid of emotions in the outside, and rarely expresses his feelings – finally fell asleep, with a small smile in his lips, ready.


	4. The Duel - Part 1 (The Battle Has Begun)

**The Duel**

 **–Part 1–**

* * *

 **7:30 in the morning…** One hour and half minutes left before the _Duel…_

 ** _Dynamo_** , check; **_Gear_** , check; **_Daily Routine_** , check.

Alright… Kthulhu is good and ready.

* * *

Kthulhu exited his temporary comfort zone, Ammo Knights. Since he has a lot of time before the _Duel_ , he decided to go to a place that he could chill in and mentally prepare for what Yudius will throw at him.

He took a walk around Inkopolis to find a restaurant. He's been walking for only a minute, and he already found a promising looking restaurant. It is called " ** _Cephalon Haven_** ", which I actually a café rather than a fast food chain restaurant you always see across the streets of a city. He entered the café.

Inside the café have a classic ambience, traditional décor and furniture, as well as traditional, yet modern tables that are aligned in straight lines. The music is Squid Sisters, but in instrumental and oriental version of their songs. There are no other squids here, which make sense, since it's still 7:32AM, which is pretty early for a café to start their daily business.

The restaurant was rather fancy, in a traditional way.

A few seconds of Kthuhu observing, Kthulhu noticed a familiar looking squid, sitting across with a squid girl with yellow base color and grey white tips in her short tentacle hair. They seem to be enjoying themselves. The said familiar looking squid is none other than Anthur, his new friend and the teammate he battled with in one of his match yesterday. He still wears the same gear, but his headphones are hanging in his neck.

By the second he noticed Anthur, he noticed as well, and waved at Kthulhu. The squid girl, curious, looked at where Anthur's looking- she's quite the beauty and she looks like a native to where Kthulhu used to live. Her expression morphed from curious to surprise, as she quickly glances back at Anthur, as he looked back at her.

Kthulhu decided to leave them alone for a while, as he goes to the counter. In the menu, there are variety of food and cuisine that can be ordered, most notably are the desserts and drinks; black forest, mousse, many kinds of frappe, and others. He decided to order a slice of mousse cake, and a mocha frappe, and went to the table where Anthur and the- or maybe _his_ squid girl.

"Whattup', K?" Anthur greeted, his tone sounded like he have forgotten about the duel that is about to happen in a few hours, "Get a chair and sit with us, lad, before I introduce you to her." She waved at him, seemingly excited.

Kthulhu nodded, as he grabs a chair from an empty table set, and places it in the southern side of the table, if you're looking at Kthulhu's perspective. He then sits and sets his ordered desserts.

 _Morning, An-tour,_ He signed to Anthur.

"Morning to ya' too, lad, oh and meet Leili, the most beautiful girl I ever met, and my fiancé." He introduced in such majestic fashion, he could fit in a romance drama play.

"Ohoho, you're just exaggerating, Anthur." Leili said, as she scratches the back of her head bashfully.

Although he is exaggerating, he is not wrong, she is beautiful…

"Leili here is also a bi- mmph!" He was interrupted abruptly by a blushing Leili cover his mouth, along with his nose somehow, with both of her hands.

"D-don't say it, don't say it please, baka di ko kayanan ng puso ko sa sobrang kaba!" She said frantically in common language and… _Lapunian?_ He did not expect that.

"Ooonahooonah,uncubahmahmawt!" Anthur struggled to say, before Leili uncovered his mouth, "Geez, Leili, do you really have to cover both my nose and mouth?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. DJ Anthur, who doesn't seem respectful to one's privacy," She answered, still blushing.

 _Lovely couple,_ Kthulhu thought. There is nothing else to neither say nor sign to describe their relationship.

Anthur cleared his throat before continuing, "Ahem, so, here's Leili, she's a botanist and also a professional battler in the Turf War games. We are here to have breakfast, before we go to our own jobs. Also, she understands sign language, so I will save you the bother of asking that in sign language."

 _O-K_ , Kthulhu signed.

"He understands sign language, too?" Leili asked, surprised. She started to sign, _So that means your mute?_

How many damn times people have asked him that shet?

 _Yes, I am, and I hope people stop pointing that out,_ Kthulhu signed.

"Ya mute, m8?" Anthur challenged.

The answer he receive is a menacing blank stare, with random kanjis ( **ゴゴゴゴゴ** ) that are menacingly and subconsciously floating in the background around him.

"Just squiddin', just squiddin', K, stop giving me that look."

Kthulhu stopped giving him the menacing blank stare, as he takes a piece of his mousse slice cake.

"So, I heard about the 'duel' you got challenged in," Leili pointed out. Anthur and Kthulhu stopped, expression darkens. Kthulhu signed, _So, An-ton, told you, right?_

"Yeah, he told. What a predicament you two got in…"

 _Yeah, pretty much._

"So, K," Anthur started, grabbing Kthulhu and Leili's attention, "Are you prepared for it? Yudius and his bros are rather… violent when it comes to fighting in 3-v-1."

 _Don't worry. I'll be fine._

"You better be. I don't think I can handle the guilt of dragging you along the Yudius shet-list."

 _Don't blame yourself for it. This is my choice to help you out._

"I appreciate it."

 _How do you feel about this situation, L-E-I-L-I_? He asked Leili.

"I… don't know what to feel about this…" She admitted, "Somewhat I wanted to be angry at Anthur for messing with the wrong squids."

"Can't help it, they are just salty." Anthur countered.

"While other half of me is worried for both you, since who knows what will Yudius do to you two…"

 _No need to worry about it. I'll get your fiancé and myself out of this._

"You seem to be controlling the whole situation, Kthulhu." Leili remarks, "If you truly know what you're doing, I'll support you on this, and I'll pray for you to win, for both you and Anthur's sake."

 _Thanks._

"I'll be rooting for ya, K," Anthur said, "I know you could win this, I saw you battle with me during that match we did yesterday."

 _That's not really my greatest performance,_ Kthulhu signed bashfully. He is still not used to praises.

"Ahh you're just modest about it!" He said as he lightly punched his right arm.

"Now, now, boys," Leili grabbed the attention of the two male squids, "Why don't we eat our breakfast? You two must get energize so that we can easily get the funeral over with."

The two boys' shivers of the thought of getting energize for their funerals.

"I'm just joking, don't worry."

Anthur sighs in relief, "Your dark jokes are getting scarier, Leili, don't do that in a situation like this."

"Apologies, I can't help it."

 _Still not appropriate._

"Anyways," Anthur cracked his fingers, feeling ready for today, or maybe for his funeral, "Like she said, let's eat our breakfast! We need your stomach to be as prepared as it possibly can, K, you can't fight with an empty stomach!"

 _I guess so._

"Now dig in, m8s! We have jobs to do!"

With high-spirits, they all eat their breakfast, whilst having a conversation with one another.

* * *

 ** _8:14AM_**

That would be a good final breakfast before Kthulhu's funeral… _would_ …

The talk with the two love squids helped him increased his determination for this duel. He is determined not to lose this one.

They finished his breakfast, and Kthulhu quickly leaves with the frappe he ordered, signing that he needs to be early in the tower before Yudius got there first. He needed to contact the Masquidteers if what they had planned is already in motion.

He has finished his frappe and threw it to a trash can as he got to the Inkopolis Tower. He sits tight on a spot nearby the entrance of the Battle Lobby, waiting for Yudius and his group of hooligans.

While waiting, he contacted The Masquidteers;

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _I'm now at the Tower._

 _You guys good?_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _we gud!_

 _mar n i are d studio_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _We are setting everything for your duel._

 _Everyone here will see it_

 _Including the Officials._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _ya' ready tho?_

 _we r rutin' fo ya!_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _I'm good._

 _Determined to splat._

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _That's the spirit._

 _Definitely gonna put that in your gravestone._

Oh, cod, not you too Marie…

 _Just kidding, K._

 _You can do it._

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _You are not helping with that joke, Marie._

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _so is yudius there?_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Not yet._

 _It's still pretty early._

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _its still 8:23AM_

 _so i guess dey will b there in an hour_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Can you wait for an hour for them?_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Yeah._

 _Don't worry._

 _BTW, where's Verique?_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _I'm here._

 _Just finishing things._

As if in queue, a wild nerdy fashionista suddenly appeared…

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

ya fnished there, ver?

urs r da most important parts needed 4 dis

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _I'm done._

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _dats fast, geez_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _Don't worry about it_

 _The mic is now implemented for all of the battlers._

 _Even Kthulhu…_

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

 _Not necessary…_

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _whatevs,_

 _man, its not like u'll b speakin n shet_

 _so when do u think theyll be in the tower?_

Oh, look, its Yudius and his group arrived as soon as Yeran asks. It's now or never…

 ** _CoolThulhu_** _:_

They are here

 ** _GeekyCamperSniper_** ** _:_**

 _gl bro! :D_

 ** _NerdyFashionista_** _:_

 _Wish ya luck, bekannte :)_

 ** _BRBSquid_** _:_

 _do ur best, k! ;)_

 ** _marie_** _:_

 _Kick their asses, K. \ U/_

He then puts away his phone, and looks at Yudius' direction. Yudius and Terof still wears the same as last time, but with different weapons, as Yudius has a golden painted Bamboozler, and Terof has the Dual Squelchers that is repainted blue.

Yudius' cocky grin is present, Terof's eyes stayed unreadable while his bandana covers his mouth. Their third teammate, a black squid, wears an aviator shades, school jersey, and white arrows, and carries a Golden Dynamo. He is probably the black squid that got into the Ammo Knights that is wearing a heavy armor, just with different gear.

Despite the dark shade of the aviators, he can see reluctance on the black squid's eyes, perfectly contrasting to his stoic expression. He doesn't know why, but he hoped that he will find it out soon enough.

As soon as Yudius got close to a hearing distance to Kthulhu, he said, "Well, lookie the early birdie, texting his _girlfriend_ goodbye before his defeat… I thought you would just scurry off Inkopolis and refuse to challenge me."

Kthulhu's expression stays neutral and blank. He doesn't want to beat the crab out of him just yet.

"Answered with silence… heh, that's whatcha get for having the wrong parents."

Kthulhu… well, you get the idea, it's kinda hard to tell what he is feeling inside him right now when he has a stone face and deadpanned expression…

"Well, doesn't matter, you'll be out of the city, anyways. So, the rules are simple in this match; Turf doesn't matter, the number of splats matters! Each splat is two points, whatever side has the highest splat points wins! Now, better get your ass in the lobby, Kthulhu, because we are prepared to beat you down!"

* * *

Alright, all set; **_Camera_** , **_Live Broadcasting Equipment_** , **_Audio Speakers_** , **_Camouflage_** , etc. Now… we have to wait for the battlers to go into Turf War. After they do, I will have to activate the live broadcasting equipment so that we can show the battle to ever Inkling here in Inkopolis.

Including to the hub of the best fighters in the League, and to the Officials…

* * *

Hrmm…

So far so good, everything is going according to plan. If _they_ have said to me is true about this guy, Yudius; win or defeat, I'll make sure that they will never harm anymore squids again.

Like what he had done to my friends…

* * *

I am now working at Eelectric Wailers, a bar club or a club bar, whatever you want to call it, that is just a few kilometers away from Café Cephalon, a café that my fiancé and I are regulars in. I was making new beats here in my studio room until I heard from a colleague of mine that a duel is coming up on TV, so I immediately stopped mixing and walk to the main hall, as I thought it might be my friend's duel with a certain basher I knew too well.

Despite the small number of squids in this area, there are so many loud murmurs and whispers that are travelling across the bar lounge. This bar is basically a rumor mill; just the rumors are a lot less harsh than the baseless rumors you found on the internet.

In the TV, hanging in the wall the far east side of the lounge (if the view is when you enter through the door, that is) for everyone to see what is going on the TV. Now, every squid's focus is on the TV, because it seems to be what I really expect…

Ooh, boy, it _is_ what I have been expecting to come out…

* * *

The Squid Sisters are now preparing their equipment. They have a battle to commentate…

* * *

…

…

 _What a strange chain of events that I got myself into…_

 _But… I am not gonna let this go off the hook…_

 _What Yudius has been doing to the newbie squids here…_

 _…_

 _Everyone…_

 _I will not let you all down… No matter what happens…_

* * *

Everyone near the Inkopolis Plaza started to gather around the center of the said plaza to see a certain sight on the billboards, with Kthulhu in the Purple team on the left side, and Yudius with his gang in the Green team on the right side.

Like in the bar, murmurs and whispers can be heard all over the plaza; some are about Kthulhu, some are about Yudius, and some about their odds of winning. The squids in the place are having mixed feelings about the whole thing.

Some sympathies, some worries, some hopes for Kthulhu, but mostly worries about him, because since he is alone fighting fearsome opponents in the Turf War League. While some believes that no matter what the odds, Kthulhu will win.

Yeran and Verique, who is wearing Retro Specs instead of the hat, are in the Plaza watching intently and silently at the billboard. Anthur is watching the upcoming battle in the Eelectric Wailers, Leili is watching from her shop, and, true to her word, she prayed for him to succeed. The Squid Sisters are in position in their studio, ready to provide commentary. Sheldon is watching in his shop's story, along with some murmuring customers, and Zrix, his grin is still present. _This is gonna be great…_

A few seconds after the billboard shows the upcoming battle, the Squid Sisters makes their appearance in the big screens; Callie is on the left and Marie is on the right, the usual position of the Squid Sisters whenever they tell the news and Turf War Stages.

"Well, would you look at this," Callie said first, looking at the battle then directly to the camera, "Looks like a duel is about to start in **_Port Mackerel_**!"

"Yep, sis, and looks like the squid in the Purple side, Kthulhu, is battling against a team three squids in the Green side!" Marie followed up.

"Isn't that unfair, folks?!" Callie asks the squids that are watching and listening. The crowd murmured in agreement.

"The match is about to start, so grab your popcorn and drinks, and hope you enjoy the show as we provide commentary for this battle!"

* * *

 **A/N :** _The Squid Sisters' commentary will not be heard by either teams, neither the voices of the other squids. What the battlers say, though, can be heard by the audience and the Squid Sisters._

* * *

Looks like the match is about to start…

Kthulhu prepares the Dynamo as he waits in his spawn point in _Port Mackerel_ , one of the perfect places for chargers and rollers to battle in. This would be tough for Kthulhu, as he is fighting a fast charger, a shooter, and a powerful roller…

Five more seconds before the match starts…

Here he is… _5_

It is now or never… _4_

 _3…_

 _2…_

 _1…_

 ** _FIGHT!_**

He started making a path made out of ink until he got to the very center of the stage. Since this is not about inking turf, he did not cover his spawn area with his team color. In the center, he meets up with the opponent team; Yudius and Terof, with the black squid absent, for some reason.

"Here we are, Kthulhu," Yudius said, poison tainted his voice, "Looking all proud and strong with that Dynamo in hand." He cackles loudly. Terof remains silent. Kthulhu is still wondering where the heck is that other squid is…

"And how did you even borrow that thing?!" Yudius demanded, "Y'know that you are not fresh enough to wield that damn thing!"

Kthulhu remained, mute and all, and kept his two hands firmly on the Dynamo.

"Oh, yes, you're mute… How could I forget your one and only defect…"

Kthulhu would be satisfied to slam his Dynamo onto his face…

Both sides started to circle around the center, preparing to fight. They circled around for a good few seconds- well, not really a circle, just a eighty-degree walking around the center. After that, they stopped; Kthulhu is behind the left pathway in the yellow team's side, and vice-versa. A second later after they stopped, few drops of ink came out of Kthulhu's right.

In which he realizes, that the black squid is behind him, attempting a surprise attack on Kthulhu with a vertical swings.

* * *

= ** _The Battle has Begun_ =**

* * *

Kthulhu blocked his attempts with his own Dynamo as he turned around and successfully blocked it, but leaving him vulnerable to be attacked by the other two of his opponents behind him.

Yudius took this opportunity to attack, and quickly charges his shot at an incredible speed. Kthulhu looked behind to see a laser pointed at his face. He immediately let one of his hands, specifically his left hand, takes a splat bomb, and blocks the incoming shot with it. The opponent roller is about to strike him down once more with a vertical flick, but Kthulhu threw the splat bomb directly at the roller's face, staggering him backwards, and backed away before the splat bomb turn him into little bits of inks.

Terof with the Repainted Dual Squelchers started raining ink at Kthulhu, while Yudius started to fire quicker, half-charged shots to create ink that would disrupt his movements. Kthulhu flicks once to create a path that leads towards the two opponent squids, and swims through it, whilst dodging some, but not all, ink that is raining down on him, and slowing him down.

Terof then throws a burst bomb at him as soon as he is closing the distance. It doesn't stop Kthulhu, as soon as he resurfaced from his ink path he made, he hits the burst bomb away from him with his Dynamo, just like he did the first time he fought Yudius and Terof.

He then flicks ink at the two opponent squids, but they quickly scurried away from the direction he is flicking, and created ink paths for them to go with their squid form. They have to do it, as they are running out of ink anyways.

Kthulhu is near Yudius, in the right side in Kthulhu's perspective, and decided to chase after him by creating ink paths and swim through it in his squid form. Luckily, Yudius is slow enough, and didn't notice that Kthulhu is behind him, as he turned back, he saw Kthulhu is already behind, roller raised and ready to smack it down at his face.

Unfortunately, Yudius is also quick, and as he already got fully-charged shot ready, and quickly releases the shot at Kthulhu's chest before he even swings down, staggering him. The opponent roller took this opportunity to hit him with a vertical swing, splatting him and the Green team gains the first splat.

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 0_**

 ** _GREEN – 2_**

* * *

A few seconds later, he spawned back to his spawn point in his side.

 _Hrmm…_ The one-v-three is not as hard as he originally thought; it's much harder…

* * *

 ** _In the Inkopolis Plaza_**

 _Murmuring… Murmuring… Murmuring…_

 _Murmuring… Murmuring…_

 _Murmuring…_

This is not going well… We are hearing murmurs all over the place now… all about what happened…

The Squid Sisters are doing well in providing the crowd some sick commentary, but I know they are not holding well if they see Kthulhu getting splatted, like me and Verique.

C'mon, Kthulhu! You can do this!

* * *

He is hearing laughter of amusements…

Only from Yudius…

Kthulhu got back to the center of the stage and comes in from the left pathway of his team's side, seeing the black squid's stoic expression, Terof's amused smile, and hearing Yudius' amused laughter. Yudius stopped laughing as soon as he saw Kthulhu.

"Now that's how ya' do it, ya' salted squid," He mocked, "Next time, better learn from your superior, Kthulhu!"

He flashed his cocky shit-eating grin at him, "Come here, Kthulhu! Show your _skills_ that everyone praises and regarded so highly of!"

He is been thinking about it, but he goes against the idea, for now. He is still waiting for the right moment to show off his skills that he has been training for two years. For now, he has to try to get at least one or two splats on the enemy team, before he destroy and dominates them.

He started to fight by throwing a splat bomb that landed a few feet from Yudius. They scurried away in squid form before it landed; Yudius goes backwards, Terof to his (Terof) right, and the black squid went to his left.

Kthulhu targeted Terof first whom is the closest to him and who is at the right pathway in the Yellow team's side, as he flicks to Terof's direction, creating an ink path to Terof, reaching him in a flash. Terof proceeds to shoot ink at Kthulhu to defend himself. Kthulhu somehow dodged all of the shots, and takes no time to splat Terof with his Dynamo. But after he got splatted, he managed to throw a burst bomb at Kthulhu, damaging him.

 _The scores are now tied…_

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 2_**

 ** _GREEN – 2_**

* * *

He then flings once at the puddle of ink he left for him before he got splatted, and submerged there to regain ink. It was cut short though, as Yudius started to fire tap shots at him, almost covering the puddle with the enemy ink. He immediately flings his roller at the direction of his left pathway of his team's side, and swings through the ink.

Halfway through, as he resurface and tried to return to his Inkling form, the black squid is already beside him waiting, his Golden Dynamo raised and ready to splat him once more.

He dodged roll forward, and quickly glanced back to the black squid. He then quickly raised his own Dynamo and swings at him vertically to splat him. The black squid then blocks it with his Golden Dynamo, both rollers' started to clash. Kthulhu has the advantage though, and slowly started to overwhelm the black squid.

They clashed for a good few seconds, until Yudius came out of nowhere, threw a splash wall behind Kthulhu, and immediately shoots a half-charged shot at his right knee, staggering him once more, and gives the black squid the advantage.

 _That faqin' betch!_ Kthulhu thought, which is also what the black squid thought.

Thanks to that, Kthulhu is slowly pushed back to the splash wall, and few more inches, he will be instantly splatted by Yudius' splash wall.

And thanks to his temporarily damaged knee, he staggered once more, as the black squid swatted Kthulhu's Dynamo away, and pushed him to the splash wall with his own Golden Dynamo, instantly splatting him.

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 2_**

 ** _GREEN – 4_**

* * *

He respawned back to his spawn point. The pain in his right knee is completely gone, but what Yudius did not go off so easily.

 _That's disrespect for ya'…_ Kthulhu thought. He ain't gonna let him go so easily now with what he did. _Oh well… time to get going…_

2:31 time left, and they are on the lead. He needs to win this… no matter what…

* * *

 ** _Time speeds up…_**

Kthulhu is having difficulty on getting a point, while Yudius slowly gains up points, whilst mocking him for his… _performance_. Kthulhu got splatted by an inkstrike, burst bomb, and another Golden Dynamo to the face. The black squid sure has skills, and they are pretty much relies on him finishing Kthulhu off.

Meanwhile, outside, the Squids Sisters continued to provide commentary with ease, but not without getting mentally worked up. Every splat Yudius got, they are slowly showing signs of nervousness. The squids outside the battle are showing the expression of hopelessness, most of them signs of worry. Sheldon is watching with such intensity, with customers are getting louder than the first few seconds of the match. Zrix's grin is still present, but not as wide as it used to.

The bar club Anthur is working stayed quiet, as if watching an intense basketball match, scores are tied, time is running low, and a man shoots the ball in an attempt a buzzer beater. Anthur does not like his situation right now.

Yeran's expression turns to worry, Verique's irritated, with no other explanation why other than Yudius challenged Kthulhu in an unfair one-v-three fight.

The Officials are watching as intently on their monitors to watch the battle that is happening. The League's Powerful Fighters are also watching intently, and they are impressed by Kthulhu's unfazable guts to fight a team of three, despite being the only fighter on his team. They are thinking that if he won and/or survived against them, they would put him in the League.

Kthulhu's friends and the masses have the same questions in their mind that has been plaguing them ever since Kthulhu got spatted for the fourth time;

 _... Will Kthulhu **fall** from **grace**?_

 _… Will Kthulhu be **no more**?_

 _… Will Kthulhu lose **everything**?_

 _… Will Kthulhu be at Yudius'/opponent's **mercy**?_

 _… Will Kthulhu **win**?_

 _… Or will he **lose**?_

 _… … …_

 _… …_

 _…_

 _… **N O** …_

 _… **He will not** **l o s e** …_

 _… Even if he is a few points behind …_

 _… He will **prevail** … his **determinatio** **n** prevents him from losing **H O P E**!_

 ** _PURPLE – 2_**

 ** _GREEN – 10_**

 _**TIME – 1:49**_

* * *

That's the fifth time Kthulhu got spatted… Time is running short… He must use all of his skills during his training days…

He is, for the first time, slowly getting frustrated. He can't really help get angry at Yudius for doing such dirty tricks on his sleeve. But he shrugged off those feelings and proceeds to the center of the stage.

As he about to exit the right pathway to the center of the stage, he saw Yudius in the center, and overheard him talking to Terof. This conversation is the thing that sparked the _inner flame_ of his **rage**.

"Have you ever thought about how Kthulhu and that… uhh, _Kyla_ -gal looked quite alike, Terof?" Yudius asked.

"Yeah," Terof answered, for the first time, in such a monotone voice, "Both are quite hopeless too."

"Yeah, right, I mean, Kyla _did_ tried to fight off three fighters alone to protect her teammates. That's how stupid she is."

"Quite the stubborn fellow, but I like her guts and bravery."

"She is quite the kind chick–"

The narrator _AND_ editor decided to cut the part out for squid's sake… if you want to know what they are talking about, it's about insulting this _Kyla_ and they are plotting something… something that the narrator and editor ain't gonna go through…

Kyla…

 _Kyla…_

 ** _KYLA…_**

The _inner flame_ inside him started to flicker violently and glow so bright it outshines a star, as it grew more violently large.

 _Yudius has crossed the line…_

 _… How **dare** HE…_

 _HOW DARE THEY INSULT MY **SISTER!**_

… …

…

 ** _No_** ** _MERCY_ _will be shown, anymore…_**

 ** _I'm DONE playing their game…_**

 ** _It's_** ** _TIME_ _…_**

 ** _To END this stupid G A M E!_**

* * *

 **A/U –** I'm finished finally! Alright the DUEL is not going well for Kthulhu, but that one conversation sparked his rage, and now, let's how he fights in the upcoming battle in PART 2! (Yes there will be _Part 2_.)

By the way, I did some changes for the previous chapters and the story in general due to some errors I made when I was making the concept in my notebook, so that it will be relevant for this chapter. Anyway, the next chapter will be around Late March to Middle of April, as I will be busy for the upcoming exams in my school I'm currently attending right now, so I'll see ya soon, in the next chapter!

Before I leave; here's a preview of the final chapter before the bonus one. Enjoy!

* * *

 **The Duel**

 **–Part 2–**

* * *

 _Some things are not meant to be heard…_

 _Some things are meant to be kept hidden as a secret…_

 _This is one of them…_

 _And now it is out…_

 _Kthulhu's Spirits of Vengeance…_

 _… Is at loose…_

 _… And it will not show mercy to them…_

The squids in the plaza are in shocked silence after hearing Yudius' conversation, even Yeran, even Verique…

The Ammo Knights customers are in shock as well, bringing the whole shop and maybe even the whole Inkopolis in a state of silence. Zrix's grin is completely gone, his lips formed into the expression that represents disbelief, and his white pupils are gone as well, leaving his eyes ominously pitch black.

Anthur is in disbelief, as well as his colleagues. Leili covered her mouth in complete shock…

The League's Guild members are completely frozen in anger. The Officials are angry, and decided that they take action. The Squid Sisters covered their mouths also in disbelief and shock, as they can't believe what they are hearing right now.

Kthulhu's expression darkened.

The black squid's eyes widened, but stayed stoic and resolute.

A few seconds have passed, the squids in Inkopolis has caused what looks like the loudest uproar yet (unfortunately and fortunately, neither Kthulhu nor Yudius' team hears this). The plaza shouts their angry voices at the billboard screens, and at their TVs. Saying they are outraged is… an understatement, let's just say…

Ammo Knights are also filled with said noise even Sheldon joins the uproar. Zrix suddenly disappeared, unnoticed by anyone. Then again, they are too busy shouting angrily to notice him.

The bar club is also filled with such noise, but Anthur did not join, as he need s his voice for somewhere. His expression is just like anyone else.

Leili stayed neutral, as getting angry is not something she wants to feel at this moment.

Yeran and Verique then encouraged the people to shout out Kthulhu's name and hope that he will win no matter what, even if they know he can't hear them, at least which the best they can at the moment. They started to shout out Kthulhu's name and their inner flames are also has been lit, giving them some hope. They want to Kthulhu to beat Yudius down for being a disgrace to the community of squids.

Because of him, they will neither show fear, _nor_ mercy at Yudius…

* * *

 ** _Kthulhu can't take it anymore…_**

 _He can't hold his anger any longer anymore…_

His expression darkened – literally, obscuring both of his closed eyes. Then suddenly, two of those eyes are now lit with light and fire, glowing like a star twinkling in a starry night; his left eye is glowing sea green that is representing his immense growth of energy, and right eye is glowing blood red that is representing his anger.

Despite its bright glow, half of his face is still obscured with darkness, and hardly illuminates it.

Yudius breaks off his conversation with Terof as soon as he saw Kthulhu in the right pathway on the Purple side, "Lookie who is -" He was suddenly cut off when he saw Kthulhu's eyes lit.

The black squid notices this two, and he is not feeling well whenever he saw those eyes lit up…

Terof's irises can't get any smaller; neither gets smaller for a long period of time.

"Heh, trying to intimidate us with _those_ colourful eyes, I see," He asked, "Well, it ain't working, y'know."

He kept quiet, and ominously still. His eyes are still glowing; subconscious kanjis ( **ゴゴゴゴゴ** **)** are floating in the background.

"Whatever, we will end this, Kthulhu, _right here, **right now!**_ " He then fires a charged shot at Kthulhu.

Everything went in slow motion for Kthulhu…

The Bamboozler shot is slowly getting to its target's face. A burst bomb is also thrown in the air at Kthulhu, which might gonna be the finishing blow for him.

 _Hrmm…_

It will not be over…

He really have now crossed the line…

And now, he will _pay the price_ for his insolence…

Time slowly started to move normally again, as Kthulhu in blinding speed, takes out a splat bomb and used it to stop the incoming shot. He used his Dynamo Roller, with only his right hand that is holding it, and quickly swatted away the burst bomb. He didn't even let them react, as he threw his splat bomb at the opponent roller.

The black squid swatted it away with ease. He knows he can… but what he didn't is that while he tried to swat it way…

Kthulhu is already in front of him, his glowing eyes stares menacingly ( **ゴゴゴゴゴ** **) at his own, despite the distance, with his roller ready to swat _him_ next…**

* * *

That's it for the preview!

 **Development will be made in –** _After Exams, During the Middle of March._

 **Chapter will be uploaded in** – _Between Late March to Middle of April, either earlier or later._


	5. The Duel - Part 2 (Wrath of Kthulhu)

**_A/N –_** This chapter is such a mess. XD This took way too long for me to try and polish to make more sense, but I guess it would hardly make less sense when Kthulhu is raged out by Yudius, so… When I was making the manuscript for this, I just think of random action sequences that may or may not make sense here, and some that I wanted to see in the actual game to happen, so I hope you enjoy the random cluster of action in this chapter

Also, umm, I think I got the Port Mackerel map wrong, I just noticed it when I was making this chapter while doing some research. For someone like me who hasn't played the game, I always got the maps wrong. (sweat drops)

But for now, I will have to keep the way I describe Port Mackerel here in this. Let's just say this is the beta Port Mackerel; smaller than the original, since the story takes place a year _before_ the first release of the first original game.

Ok, enough of my rambling, onto the Duel Finale! Enjoy!

* * *

 **The Duel**

 **–Part 2 : Finale–**

* * *

 _A few minutes earlier… before **The Duel** …_

"Hey, lad," said a feminine voice through the cellular phone, "Ya' sure you'll be alright there?"

"Yeah, I guess so," The one Inkling with the phone said reassuringly, pretty much confident, "I mean, it might just be your just ordinary duel, and stuff…"

"You can't be sure about that," The caller sighed, "We don't want to risk your life just to get some evidences, y'know."

"Look who's talking here."

"Anyway… how is Kthulhu doing?"

"Don't ask me, I haven't seen him yet."

"I thought ya' would say that. So, are you ready for it?"

"Yeah, Ryoko, I'm ready, you don't need to worry about me. I've been training under your tutelage ever since when I first start; I know I can do this."

Ryoko paused for a few seconds, probably thinking. She then sighs once more, and said, "You truly have grown, Raei, and I am very proud of what you have become now. Alright, I'll let you do it. Just be careful, ok?"

"Thanks, Ryoko, I won't let you down!" Raei said before he hangs up.

* * *

"You sure he can do it, Miss Ryoko?" asked a squid that has his yellow tentacle hair untied and is reaching his shoulders, has jet black eyes, wears Splash Goggles hanging on his neck, Dark Urban Vest, and Blue Moto Boots. He also has a glove that he wears in his right hand, with a Roman numeral III on the top of the glove. His expression is carefree and idle, "He doesn't seem to be qualified with dealing with this kind of stuff."

Ryoko is a female Inkling with purple tentacle hair with sea blue tips and stormy grey eyes, wearing a Legendary Cap that has every shade of Purple, with the brightest purple is in the front of the cap, while the darkest shade is the back of the cap. She also wears custom clothing, a seemingly oversized Combo Hoodie, made by Tentatek only her, with the brand is on the jacket's right shoulders. The base color of the hoodie is black, but the sleeves from the elbow to the wrist are color dependent, which right now is purple. The hoodie is as long as a trench coat, sleeves are bigger than both of her hands, and the hoodies is big enough to cover both her cap and her head.

Her cycling shorts are longer than what normally a female Inkling wears, as her cycling shorts reaches her knees. In each side of her shorts is a purple zigzag pattern in it. She wears almost knee-high Moto Boots, but with shades of sea blue color in it.

Ryoko puts her phone down to the coach that is facing the TV, "Don't worry too much, Yhavin," Ryoko said, "I know what I am doing. If you believe that I am doing the right thing, then you also believe that Raei will succeed. Besides, this can be a great test for him."

"What kind of test you are talking about?" Yhavin asked once more.

"Dunno. Depends on the… y'know."

"Psychological Test, I assume."

"Maybe… We'll see…"

* * *

 _A few seconds before the Duel… at the lobby…_

 _"Do you think we would win against that guy?" Terof asked._

 _"Of course! Why wouldn't we?" answered Yudius. He is very sure that they will win, and tends to get cocky if he thinks so._

 _"I dunno. He looks like a tough squid."_

 _"Ehh, even if he gets the most points, he has to worry about the rule " **The last splat gets the win**!"_

 _"Whichever teams that are 4 points away from each other will activate this rule, and you will be crowned victorious if you get the splat previously." Terof deduced._

 _"Exactly. I changed the system yesterday so that rule will apply for this duel, so we will be fine!"_

 _So that means… the initial rule of whoever gets the most splat wins, is freakin' redundant?!_

 _This is not good… they tampered with the turf war system which is pretty illegal even in Private Matches._

* * *

 _A few seconds earlier before present time… Yudius and Terof's conversation._

 _"What's her rank again?" Asked Yudius, with a grin in his face._

 _"B-minus," Terof immediately answered._

 _"B-minus, eh?" Yudius' grin got wider. He is plotting something, "Listen, you know out job, right? We keep unwanted noobs and unwanted newbies here in our current league, and right now, looks like we have a new squid in our shit litst."_

 _"What'cha got in mind?"_

 _"After we dispose of the Kthulhu guy, she's next. I've seen her play Turf War, and the way that I see it, she does not deserve the rank she has now. We don't that."_

 _"So, if we win this, after taking him and Anthur out of the picture, we'll do the same to her, huh?"_

 _"Exactly, Terof."_

 _"This procedure is getting tedious. How about we do a different plan?"_

 _"If you say so, I already have something on my mind."_

 _And there the editor and the narrator cuts things out of the story. It better stay censored._

* * *

 ** _Present_**

 _Some things are not meant to be heard…_

 _Some things are meant to be kept hidden as a secret…_

 _This is one of them…_

 _And now it is out…_

 _Kthulhu's Spirits of Vengeance…_

 _… Is at loose…_

 _… And it will not show mercy to them…_

The squids in the plaza are in shocked silence after hearing Yudius' conversation, even Yeran, even Verique…

The Ammo Knights customers are in shock as well, bringing the whole shop and maybe even the whole Inkopolis in a state of silence. Zrix's grin is completely gone, his lips formed into the expression that represents disbelief, and his white pupils are gone as well, leaving his eyes ominously pitch black.

Anthur is in disbelief, as well as his colleagues. Leili covered her mouth in complete shock…

The League's Guild members are completely frozen in anger. The Officials are angry, and decided that they take action. The Squid Sisters covered their mouths also in disbelief and shock, as they can't believe what they are hearing right now.

Kthulhu's expression darkened.

The black squid's eyes widened, but stayed stoic and resolute.

A few seconds have passed, the squids in Inkopolis has caused what looks like the loudest uproar yet (unfortunately and fortunately, neither Kthulhu nor Yudius' team hears this). The plaza shouts their angry voices at the billboard screens, and at their TVs. Saying they are outraged is… an understatement, let's just say…

Ammo Knights are also filled with said noise even Sheldon joins the uproar. Zrix suddenly disappeared, unnoticed by anyone. Then again, they are too busy shouting angrily to notice him.

The bar club is also filled with such noise, but Anthur did not join, as he need s his voice for somewhere. His expression is just like anyone else.

Leili stayed neutral, as getting angry is not something she wants to feel at this moment.

Yeran and Verique then encouraged the people to shout out Kthulhu's name and hope that he will win no matter what, even if they know he can't hear them, at least which the best they can at the moment. They started to shout out Kthulhu's name and their inner flames are also has been lit, giving them some hope. They want to Kthulhu to beat Yudius down for being a disgrace to the community of squids.

Because of him, they will neither show fear, _nor_ mercy at Yudius…

* * *

 ** _Kthulhu can't take it anymore…_**

 _He can't hold his anger any longer anymore…_

His expression darkened – literally, obscuring both of his closed eyes. Then suddenly, two of those eyes are now lit with light and fire, glowing like a star twinkling in a starry night; his left eye is glowing sea green that is representing his immense growth of energy, and right eye is glowing blood red that is representing his anger.

Despite its bright glow, half of his face is still obscured with darkness, and hardly illuminates it.

Yudius breaks off his conversation with Terof as soon as he saw Kthulhu in the right pathway on the Purple side, "Lookie who is -" He was suddenly cut off when he saw Kthulhu's eyes lit.

The black squid notices this two, and he is not feeling well whenever he saw those eyes lit up…

Terof's irises can't get any smaller; neither gets smaller for a long period of time.

"Heh, trying to intimidate us with _those_ colourful eyes, I see," He asked, "Well, it ain't working, y'know."

He kept quiet, and ominously still. His eyes are still glowing; subconscious kanjis ( **ゴゴゴゴゴ** **)** are floating in the background.

"Whatever, we will end this, Kthulhu, _right here, **right now!**_ " He then fires a charged shot at Kthulhu.

Everything went in slow motion for Kthulhu…

The Bamboozler shot is slowly getting to its target's face. A burst bomb is also thrown in the air at Kthulhu, which might gonna be the finishing blow for him.

 _Hrmm…_

It will not be over…

He really have now crossed the line…

And now, he will _pay the price_ for his insolence…

Time slowly started to move normally again, as Kthulhu in blinding speed, takes out a splat bomb and used it to stop the incoming shot. He used his Dynamo Roller, with only his right hand that is holding it, and quickly swatted away the burst bomb. He didn't even let them react, as he threw his splat bomb at the opponent roller.

The black squid swatted it away with ease. He knows he can… but what he didn't is that while he tried to swat it way…

Kthulhu is already in front of him, his glowing eyes stares menacingly ( **ゴゴゴゴゴ** ) at his own, despite the distance, with his roller ready to swat _him_ next…

 _This match is getting too normal…_

 _When that happens… I'll make it go to an extreme level…_

Kthulhu did not let him react as he immediately swings his roller horizontally from the right to the left, hitting the black squid and instantly splatting him.

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 4_**

 ** _GREEN – 10_**

* * *

"What in the-" Yudius can't even finish his sentence when Kthulhu suddenly jumps at Yudius in an incredible speed that it will be too late to put his splash wall, his roller ready of a vertical swing. If he tries to shoot him, he will instead get a Dynamo to the face, so he instinctively sidestepped to the right to avoid it.

 _CLANG!_

 _Wait a minute…_ _That's not…_ He looked at his original position before he tried to sidestep.

 _What the…!?_

He didn't try to splat him with the roller… He didn't even do a vertical swing…

But what he did is he hits the ground with the side ends of the roller, the part that holds the actual roller and its ink!

Kthulhu's eyes looked at Yudius, in which he is just a few meters from him and he is still in range of his roller, as he immediately swings his roller in such a speed so impossible to attain with the Dynamo Roller (the normal kind) at Yudius and hits him with it, finally splatting him for the first time.

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 6_**

 ** _GREEN – 10_**

* * *

Kthulhu didn't stop there.

He continued to swing this Dynamo roller until it turned from a swing to a 360 spin. Terof, the last remaining opponent in the center, attempted to shoot him down with his Dual Squelcher. But all of those are blocked with Kthulhu's roller during the initial spin.

After he spins the second time, he uses the weight of the Dynamo, and has enough speed to reach Terof to propel himself into the air and towards him, keeping his initial speed as he continues to spin midair. With that speed, he is guaranteed to splat him.

Terof is utterly surprised, but he kept firing ink towards, but to no avail, all shots are blocked by him spinning with his Dynamo roller. With such speed Kthulhu is having, he immediately reached Terof, and proceeds to swing down the Dynamo roller as soon as he about to finish another 360 spin at Terof directly to the noggin.

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 8_**

 ** _GREEN – 10_**

* * *

After he splatted Terof, he slowly stands up, as he turned to the direction of the opponent's base, his glowing eyes menacingly looks at the said direction.

Kthulhu is _DONE_ …

He will now show his true strength, and use it against Yudius…

And this time…

 _I will dominate the splattlefield…_

* * *

The crowd goes silent in the state of shock-and-awe.

Yeran has never seen such fluid moments, and gracefully quick executions of his moves, not even Verique has seen nor done any of those. He deems it impossible for him with his scrawny build of his.

 _This… certainly is getting interesting…_

* * *

Woah… he did not just do those.

Never in my life has seen such moves with the roller before until now… I don't think that would be allowed in the Official Turf Wars, but damn, if they allow such things I would quit Turf War. (In which would not be happening anytime soon.)

The squids on the bar club had their jaws in the floor, shocked to silence. They might want to pick them back up in the next few minutes.

This is gonna be in the Hall of Fame for the next few centuries of Turf Warring…

* * *

"Wow… just wow!" said the squid wearing a Jungle Hat, Mountain Vest, and White Arrows, with a fingerless glove that is on his right hand, with the Roman numeral IV that is on top of his glove. In the League's Powerful Fighters, that symbolizes what is your position.

Most of the fighters in the HQ are quite shocked and at the same time, impressed at the feat Kthulhu have made. His performance have somehow gone considerably well for some reason, and they thought it is about what Yudius have said. They shudder at the thought with the exception of Ryoko, Yhavin, the 5th and the 7th.

"Heh, we definitely want to recruit him for the League Fighters, don't you think, Ryoko?" Asked Yhavin. There is an empty spot for the 10th, so he was eager to suggest it to Ryoko.

"Hmmm…" Ryoko rubs her fingers on her chin, thinking, "Yeah, I could agree…"

"So no need to hold a poll, huh?" asked the 7th, who is an Inkling girl that wears a Bamboo Hat, Zekko Hoodie, and Moto Boots. Like any other fighters in the HQ, she is wearing a glove, but this time, she wears it her left hand, with the Roman numeral 7th on the top of the glove. She has an N'ZAP 85 on her belt of her cycling shorts.

"No need. He is already qualified for the test…"

* * *

Hrmm… that is… amazing, I gotta admit…

How did he do that? He was only a few meters away from me, but not so far that he could instantly reach me with such speed. Maybe, that's how he truly plays… I guess I have to make a mental note not to insult Kyla in front of him.

 _Kyla_ … I don't what's her relationship with Kthulhu, but by the looks of Kthulhu, he might be her brother or something. They do look alike…

Doesn't matter at the moment… now, I have to focus on the fight 'till the end. I have enough evidence to use against Yudius and Terof. She would be happy to know about it.

"Ugh, what the shell?!" Yudius yelled as soon as he respawns, "That damn squidball…" Yudius then noticed me, and immediately said, "Hey, Espio! You have an Instrike?"

I nodded, as I flick at an empty area that is left around our spawn, and my tentacle hair glows.

"Good, now BLAST THAT SQUID OFF THE CENTER!"

 _Ugh… him and his missing shet…_

Since I have no options at this current moment, I decided to do it. I take out my Inkstrike missile and the tablet for the Inkstrike to point out the coordinates, and fired it at the location Kthulhu is currently in. The Inkstrike is modified by me with the help of a friend of mine, and somehow, we make got a two-times bigger than the original Inkstrike, to give off a bigger explosion area, maybe enough to cover the center, like he did earlier. Let's see if you have any more tricks up your sleeve…

* * *

 _Inkstrike incoming…_

He saw the marker a few seconds later after it's launched. He has no time to escape or even dodge it.

But that Inkstrike is not enough to scare or stop Kthulhu…

Kthulhu puts his roller down to a puddle on his far right. He felt like, since this is just a private turf war match, some rules don't matter anymore… because he is too pissed to abide the rules of this stupid match.

As soon as the Inkstrike is close by and ready to hit the ground, he grabbed it by the nose of the missile, stopping it completely from hitting the ground, and then uses his strength to change its trajectory and direction from the ground to the container behind him. As soon as he adjusted its trajectory, he grabbed it by the body under his arms and holds onto it for dear life.

* * *

"Woah, what a spectacular grab from Kthulhu!" Callie shouted, awe-struck while narrating what've happened, "No one ever has the strength nor the takoyaki to even pull that trick off in the Official Turf War games, and manage to pull it off in the Private Matches!"

"It is truly _squid_ -tacular, and quite astonish- _ink_ as well," Marie said, "Never in my life have ever seen this, until now that is, and it's definitely not something you see or allowed in Turf Wars."

The squids got into the next level of shock-and-awe state, apparently recovered on such a short period of time from their outraged uproar.

Yeran has no words to describe how she felt. What Kthulhu did is amazing.

Verique fixed up his glasses, a smirk formed on his lips.

 _This will be great…_

* * *

 _Now, for my next trick… whoever gets hit by this will be having a bad face day…_

Now that he thinks about it for a few moments, the Inkstrike is much larger than it original is. Doesn't matter, the bigger the better the damage and whoever tinker the Inkstrike did a great job.

The propeller is still on, and with the way it is spinning, it will definitely last a minute while keeping the speed after its initial launch. He still has a minute to do whatever he want with it, excluding splatting himself accidently with it, which will be embarrassing.

He changed the way he is holding the roller, with difficulty; he first changed the direction he is facing by facing the same direction as the rocket. Then, he puts the missile over his right shoulder, and immediately felt the vibration of the missile on his right shoulder. With the rocket now in his control, he decided that he can ruin someone's day with this.

He slowly walks with the ever-so-shakey rocket in his shoulder to the right pathway of the Green Team. He saw two squids that are about to enter the said pathway, whilst looking to their left. It is the black squid, and Terof; they haven't noticed him yet.

He instantly chose Terof to be his lucky target.

He prepares the rocket to by backing away a little bit to get a good boost for the rocket. He readies the rocket, locked on target, chose the perfect trajectory for the rocket to fly on to. A second later, he throws the Inkstrike like a javelin at the oblivious Terof.

* * *

Is that my Inkstrike?

Oh, merda, it _is_!

I have no time to tell Terof about the inkoming rocket (nor any plans to) that is quickly speed at our direction. Terof hasn't seen this, as he was looking at Yudius, whom he tells Terof to prepare the Seeker Rush.

I immediately turned into my squid form and I barely dodge my own rocket by an inch. I looked behind me, and I briefly saw a Terof's surprised face. The Inkstrike is too close to him, and there is no way he could dodge a point blank hit of a rocket, especially an unnecessarily big one. He immediately dropped his Dual Squelcher, and attempted to grab my rocket by the nose.

In compensation, he was pushed back to spawn, and he is pinned against the wall besides the spawn point, fighting against the force of the Inkstrike.

Hoo boy… this is… certainly getting interesting…

* * *

That's a hit, but that doesn't mean it's over…

He has a few ink drops left in his ink tank, enough to supply a splat bomb. He grabbed, almost depleting all of the ink in his ink tank, and immediately throws it in the air, high enough to give Kthulhu time to refill a little bit ink for his Dynamo Roller, which he picked up while the Inkstrike is flying to Terof's face.

As soon as the splat bomb left his hand, he immediately turned into his squid form and briefly submerged into the ink puddle he is standing on, and returned to his Inkling form just as fast. He then sidestepped to the left, his roller prepared to swing. A millisecond later he swings his roller from the right to the left, and perfectly hits the falling splat bomb. He hits it so hard it flew off into the air, at the same direction where the rocket flew off to.

* * *

How strong he really is? How did he throw my Inkstrike back at us, anyway?

Ugh, whatever it is, I got not time for it- wait a minute… what is that?

Is that a _splat_ _bomb_?!

It flew past above me, like a ball that got hit for the homerun. I stared at it, dumbfounded on the distance and the height he threw that bomb, and I am very curious on where it land. I immediately realize where it will land, and it spectacularly hits the already struggling Terof square right to the face with the splat bomb.

The impact might be so hard, he loses all of his focus and strength to stop my Inkstrike, because as soon as the splat bomb bounces off his face after the impact, another one greeted his face once more, and it is more painful than random bomb hitting you directly to the face; my own Inkstrike, and it immediately burrowed into Terof's squishy face. I winced on the sight…

But wait, it gets worse. After the splat bomb bounces off, it landed on beside Terof, beside his foot, and a few seconds later, Kthulhu just added in-salt to the injury as the splat bomb blew up on his foot. After he was splatted, the Inkstrike flew to the remains of Terof, and it expels a large green explosion of ink at our spawn.

Talk about overkill…

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 10_**

 ** _GREEN – 10_**

* * *

"-and Kthulhu hits the home run, folks!" Callie cheerfully shouted, whilst showing the clip of Kthulhu hitting the splat bomb like a baseball and hits Terof in the face.

"A splat bomb and an allied Inkstrike to the face is one heck of a deadly combo, don't you agree Callie?" Marie asked, with an amused and impressed smirk formed on her lips.

"Oh boy it sure is!"

And the crowd goes wild.

* * *

Heh, this squid sure is full of surprises…

The once angry customers and staffs are now going wild, while having a party in there, clearly enjoying Kthulhu's performance; the Inkstrike redirection, the splat bomb homerun… how many tricks can he fit in his sleeves and how many he still left?

* * *

"Har, har, oh, I have never thought that I would see that again," Ryoko said, arms crossed, and like many other Inklings who are watching in the HQ and in Inkopolis, she is visibly impressed.

"Looks like Raei doesn't really need to spy on them," remarked the 3rd, "Someone else has already done it."

"Nah, nah, he is doing his part," Ryoko then stands from the coach, looking at her cellphone as shee receive a text from the Officials. She then puts her phone back to the pocket of her cycling shorts after sh is finished reading, "Hey, Yhavin, keep watch on the TV while it is recording the match. I'll be joining the dudes at the Tower."

Yhavin nodded as he sits on the same couch Ryoko sat, watching the fight.

She then looked at the other squids in the guild, who are socializing as they watch the duel, "Alright, ladies and gentlesquids, I will be absent in the HQ for the next few minutes or hours, so you all better behave while I'm gone, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am!" All of the members, except for the 2nd, 3rd, 7th and the 9th, shouted.

"Good, I'll be off, then," she then opens the door and started to leave, "I'll see you all soon." She then closed the door, leaving the main room, and she gets to the locker room of the League HQ. She gets to her locker, with the name and rank on her locker; "Ryoko Date || S || 1st" is written in the locker. She uses her key to open her locker, and the contents of the locker are her favorite weapons; The Golden Dynamo, The Tri-Slosher Nouveau, and the Permanent Inkbrush.

She grabbed the Permanent Inkbrush, closed and locked the locker, and she turns to leave to the door of the locker room, and out to the outside world, and walks to the Inkopolis Tower that is a few blocks away from the HQ, rendezvousing with the Officials there.

* * *

The black squid is now fast approaching, roller ready. But Kthulhu has other problems to worry about other than him.

He saw Yudius at the left pathway (Green Team's left pathway), and he is now quickly charging his Bamboozler to attack. He dodges the initial fire by bending his back backwards, avoiding getting hit in the head by a fully charged shot. He then turned into his squid form into the other puddle to his right. Yudius started to close in the distance, whilst firing tap shots at the puddle he is in.

He quickly flings his roller towards at the sniper, and jumps to the ink path he has created, while dodging the charged shots Yudius is firing. Within seconds, he reached Yudius with his roller ready to splat after he reemerged in front of Yudius. But before he even swings it down at Yudius, he dive rolled to his right, while putting a splash wall between himself and Kthulhu, and then turned into his squid form next to the path that is left before Kthulhu is started to gaining points exponentially.

Kthulhu's flings his roller so powerful that it instantly broke the splash wall like a twig. He wasted no time and started chasing down the fleeing squid via ink puddles that he created earlier. He eventually reaches the fleeing Yudius while dodging a couple of shots from him, and he was attempted to swing the roller once again at Yudius.

Until the black squid resurfaced in between the Yudius and Kthulhu, swinging his own Golden Dynamo as well against the other Dynamo, making both rollers clash their weapons the second time. The black squid's Dynamo got heavier, maybe because he puts much more force into it, and he is now slowly pushing him with force.

Yudius saw this opportunity to do it again, as he swims farther behind the black squid, and when he reemerged from his ink, he throws a splash wall flying past over both the black squids and Kthulhu, and it deployed a few meters away behind Kthulhu. He then aims for the same foot he shot Kthulhu the first time he did this.

 ** _One minute left!_** Said the automated announcer from the speaker.

 _Oh no, you don't…_

This time, Kthulhu has saw this coming from a mile away and he won't let that happen again. As soon as Yudius pulled the trigger, Kthulhu slides his right foot away from the shot and slides his right foot behind his own left foot, completely dodging the shot. Afterwards, he proceed to do a 180 degree turn, and using the black squid's momentum and balance against himself, he stopped blocking and, and since the black squid is pushing him, the opponent roller stagger towards the splash wall thanks to his own momentum.

Kthulhu continued spinning, and as he got a 180 turn, he swings the roller against the spine of the opponent roller, completing another 360 turn and splatting the black squid for the second time.

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 12_**

 ** _GREEN – 10_**

* * *

Like any other spin he did, he did not stop, keeping his momentum the same.

With the help of his Dynamo Roller, he jumped off as high as he did the first time, and he jumped towards Yudius, with his menacing glowing and flowing eyes glaring at him.

Yudius is not stupid to just stand there and take the hit to the face with his roller. As soon as Kthulhu pounces, he fired a half-charged shot forward and he dive rolled to it just as quick, passing Kthulhu who is still in mid-air spinning like the blades of a helicopter, but not without getting hit by stray of ink that flew off of Kthulhu's Dynamo.

While dive rolling, he charges his Bamboozler, and as he landed on his back, his own Bamboozler charge is full, while Kthulhu landed almost at the same time as Yudius. He aimed the Bamboozler at Kthulhu while Yudius is upside down, and fires out the charged shot.

Kthulhu barely blocked it, though, because as soon as he landed, he swings the roller horizontally from the right to the left while he turns, and he hit the incoming charged shot with his roller. He pounced at the lying Yudius once more; his roller is ready to swing down at his noggin.

Without any further options, he turned into his squid form, and swam through the ink he made, completely avoiding Kthulhu's swing. Halfway through he resurfaced and shot an ink trail at his right and swims through it, making his escape to a safe distance.

Terof arrived back to the center; his tentacle hair is flowing with bubbly fire, ready to fire his special.

"Terof, NOW!" shouted Yudius to Terof, and Terof activated his special; the Seeker Rush. He then threw like four seekers within seconds in different directions that are now sliding towards Kthulhu.

He reacted quickly, as he throws a splat bomb, and swings his roller, shooting ink a few meters away from the splat bomb. After his splat bomb exploded, he turns to his squid form and submerged to the ink. Because of this, the seekers can't chase him down, and they slide off straight to the same path.

But as the four seekers went past him, he is running out of space for him to swim, and more seekers are coming straight to him.

 ** _30 seconds left!_** said the automated announcer from the speaker.

 _Here comes the Last Ditch Effort…_

 _Time to get more extremely risky…_

He suddenly reemerged from the little ink puddle he is in, and swings his roller upwards in a ridiculous speed, spewing purple ink to his right, and submerged to the puddle he is in just as quickly. He immediately swam through, with seekers are sliding behind him, painting the previous puddle he is in with green ink.

He repeated the process for at least a few more times, with every seeker getting a few inch closer to him every time he passed one. He then goes to the final spot he can go to; a small ink puddle that is beside the crate in the left pathway (Kthulhu's team).

He reemerged from the ink puddle, just to see two seekers are swiftly approaching Kthulhu, ready to crash and explode on him.

There is one final option left, and that option can be extreme in so many cases. He only has at least 83% of ink left on his ink tank, thanks to the seekers that makes it hard for him to refill, so it is now or never.

He grabbed a splat bomb, almost depleting the ink tank, and right at the last second, he dive rolled forward and past the seekers, before landing in the ocean of green ink with his splat bomb while doing a handstand. The two seekers exploded after they hit the container behind him.

As soon as he is about hit the ocean of green ink, his splat bomb exploded, and quickly submerged to the ink to try refill and take back the lost ink. It didn't last long though, as he got barraged with ink from both Yudius and Terof. The two are beginning to split, with Yudius going back to the left pathway of his side, while Terof walks to the right pathway of Kthulhu's side.

Since Terof is the closest to him, he decided that he should first target him, so he started to fling, fling, fling ink paths; swim, swim, swim across the created ink paths; and dodge, dodge, dodge incoming ink while he is on his way to Terof in the most extreme ways possible; flipping, diving, sidestepping, and many more. He is not kidding when he wants to take it to the extreme.

A few flippin' and divin' later, he reached Terof, who is near the right pathway. As soon as Terof is in range, he immediately attempted to splat Terof by fling ink at him with his roller, but he swim to his right to avoid the initial fling. Terof then attempted to kite him whilst shooting rapid fire ink shots at him, along Yudius trying to assist him by firing charged shots.

It didn't matter as much, as his Special, the Kraken, is already up. He took out a splat bomb and threw it directly at Terof's face, again. He easily dodged it by side hopping to his right, aligning himself between Kthulhu and Yudius, in a way.

 _He took the bait_ , Terof is now closer to him now. As he side hopped, he pounced at the spot he is about to land. While midair, he triggered his Special, turning into the kraken, and before Terof can react, Krakthulhu rammed against Terof's face, again for the fourth and maybe the last time in the whole duel.

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 14_**

 ** _GREEN – 10_**

* * *

Damn, Terof's a headshot magnet…

Kthulhu didn't waste any more time, and he pounce, pounce, and pounce his way to Yudius' location with absurd speed.

"Dammit, why is he so faqin fast?! This is bullsack!" Yudius managed to remark, as he started to try and escape the wrath of Krakthulhu. But Krakthulhu, again with absurd speed, caught Yudius into his range of attack, and immediately pounced at him. Until during midair, he returned back to his Inkling form, Special now expired. But while he is transforming back, his roller is already prepared to swing at him.

Yudius prepared for this, as while Kthulhu transforms back to his original self, he took out a splash wall by instinct, and placed it down by his feet, and swims through the numerous ink puddles to create distance. By the time he swam away, Kthulhu swings hits the splash wall instead, and like the splash walls last time, it get completely snapped like a stepped twig.

In the corner of his left eye, he saw Yudius swimming away, and in the corner of his right eye, he saw the black squid that is in midair, his roller is about to swing down vertically.

The two Dynamo rollers clashed one more time, but this time both rollers bounced off each other, both trading blows neither both are having the disadvantage nor the advantage, with both have their Last Ditch Effort on.

 ** _20 Seconds Left!_** Said again by the automated announcer from the announcer.

With each blow increases power, with each blow increased the intensity of the blows, with both fighters are now trading blows and clashing rollers near the left crate in the Green team's left pathway.

 _I am wasting too much time…_

 _I need to splat Yudius!_

He decided to use the technique his father taught him that he haven't used for a long time, and this is a good time to do so. He wanted to end it, in the most squidtacular fashion, and he decided to finish the black squid with the technique he is about to use; the **_Three Connective Strikes_**.

Sorry if that's a bad combo name, his father named it, and he is not really good at giving names…

After both of the rollers traded one more blow, both fighters are pushed back to their perspective ink puddle of their own team. Kthulhu, with the light weight of his Dynamo Roller, he attacked first, and swings his roller horizontally from the right to the left with powerful force. As expected, he blocked it by swinging his own Golden Dynamo Rolller, but Kthulhu puts so much force in his swing both rollers recoiled to the opposite direction of their rollers.

Kthulhu use this to gain more momentum in order to do another 360 turn while he swings his roller again horizontally from the right to the left this time. The black squid's grip got weakened because of his Golden Dynamo's heavy weight and after the recoil, and as soon as his roller returned to his fighting stance, he is too late to try and block the incoming swing Kthulhu is about to do as he does another 360 turn.

How did he _not_ look and maybe feel dizzy after so many spins?

A millisecond later, Kthulhu gives much more force into the second swing, and as the hit connects not just to his roller, but also to his right hand, his grip completely vanished, and his roller is thrown off to the left, howling in pain while he staggers to left and grips his damaged left hand.

He observes his right hand, it got covered with purple ink, twitching in pain, and purple ink drips from the top of his hand and to the wrist. He then glances at Kthulhu, who is now staring at him with menacingly glowing red and green eyes, his Dynamo roller is about to swing down at him.

Kthulhu raised his roller once more, and a second later, he swings down his Dynamo roller to the right shoulder of the already helpless black squid, splatting maybe one last time.

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 16_**

 ** _GREEN – 10_**

* * *

 ** _Ten Seconds Left!_**

 _Yudius…_

After he splats the black squid, he then turns around to face Yudius with his glowing and raging eyes, just to see him holding a big speaker with both of his hands; a Killer Wail. Yudius is glaring at him menacingly, and holds the Killer Wail triumphantly. **_(10)_**

"YOUR TIME IS UP-" Yudius puts his Killer Wail down and directly at Kthulhu, **_(9)_** and screams at the top of his lungs, " **KTHUULHUUUU!** " He turns away from the Killer Wail and covered his ears, before it fires an ear deafening screech, and that screech is directed at Kthulhu at a very wide radius! **_(8)_**

* * *

What the crowd doesn't know is that the Killer Wail is tinkered by Yudius, increasing its radius significantly, with a drawback of a louder screech than normal. As it fires, with the speakers in the Plaza as at full volume, the screech blasts off of the speakers, forcing every audiences in Inkopolis to cover their as hard as they can to block off the sound and protect their eardrums from exploding.

In the Ammo Knights, despite the lower volume of the speakers inside the shop, the screech from the Killer Wail is still as loud, and everyone is forced to cover their ears, while the vibrating sound is somehow bounces around the shop, shaking the weapons and it makes half of the weapons drop to the floor, and also because of the vibration it cracks the windows of the shop.

In the Eelectric Wailers Bar Club, they also has the volume high, and it did work on the bar club, even if every Inkling, even the DJs, tried to cover their ears as hard as they can. It shattered so many wine glasses and alcohol bottles, which is expensive, and the sound might've also shattered many Inkling eardrums, which can be much more expensive than a mere wine bottle.

In the flower shop, Leili mutes the volume of the TV she is watching the duel from, as the Killer Wail can still be faintly heard at a distance outside the shop.

At the Squid Sisters Studio, the sound prevented them from doing any other action except for covering their ears. The staff, with difficulty, mutes the sound system at the Studio as well as for the Duel.

In the League's Powerful Fighters HQ, the 3rd immediately mutes the TV with the remote. He and the other members of the Powerful Fighters are broke at the moment and they don't have the budget to use to pay the expenses for repairs in the HQ and for the broken eardrums that might happen inside in the HQ.

Yep, this would go down to the Inkopolis Turf War Hall of Fame as "The Most Devastating Duel of Inkopolis."

A second has passed, the screech died down… the audience looked at the screen that is showing the Duel.

The staff in the Squid Sister's studio then immediately turns the sounds back on after the screech died down…

Kthulhu is nowhere to be seen… **_(7)_**

* * *

Kthulhu is nowhere to be seen…

Yudius looked back at the same direction the Killer Wail fired the screech.

Kthulhu is nowhere to be seen… a puddle of green ink took his place…

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 16_**

 ** _GREEN – 12_**

* * *

Yudius smiled widely, triumphant…

He then shouted, "Yes, _yes_ , **YES!** " **_(6)_**

The crowd looks at the board, shocked. They have heard about the rule Yudius have tried to secretly implanted, and now, they now believe that Kthulhu, despite him taking the lead, he has lost an unfair match. Yeran and Verique looked at the screen, their eyes widened.

"Kthulhu, _I'VE WON!" **(5)** _ He shouted at the puddle that replaced Kthulhu, " _Remember! I get the last spla-" **(4)**_

" ** _Sike_** …" Suddenly, a slightly deep monotone voice is heard both by Yudius and the crowd, and suddenly, something hard as a brick hits Yudius in the chin. It's **Kthulhu**! He survived and dodged the Killer Wail attack!

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 16_**

 ** _GREEN – 10 (sikes, lol!)_**

* * *

Yudius' head is violently pushed upwards by the chin, like someone punched him with an uppercut with gloves made out of diamond. Kthulhu holds the Dynamo Roller like a shovel, while the way he swung it upwards towards Yudius' chin is like taking out the said shovel as it scoops out rock from the ground

And now that rock in the shovel hits Yudius square right in the chin, with Kthulhu puts his full strength and force into the roller, giving off extra damage and possibly an extra experience of what a broken chin feels like.

Kthulhu looks at Yudius with his menacingly glowing eyes, he opened his mouth, and for the first time in a long time, he spoke with the same monotone voice, "… you thought wrong, Yudius…" He then apples more force into the swing, "I get the last splat…

" _… and you won't see the last of it, you sick bastard..._ " **_(3)_** He then pushes his Dynamo Roller upwards, applying more force to the uppercut that struck his chin with the last of his strength. Yudius screamed in pain through his gritted beak, and before he was thrown off into the air **_(2)_** , he became a thousand drops of purple ink that flew off to the green ink behind him, and Yudius's remains are a puddle of purple ink. **_(1)_**

* * *

 ** _PURPLE – 18_**

 ** _GREEN – 10_**

* * *

 ** _(GAME!)_**

* * *

 ** _Purple :_** _9 (x2) – 43.6%_

 ** _Green :_** _5 (x2) – 42.4%_

 ** _TOTAL :_** _2 – 0_

 _(PURPLE TEAM HAS WON!)_

* * *

"OOOOOOHH!" Callie yelled so loudly, that her voice rivals the normal Killer Wail. She has a tissue on her right ear, probably hurt from the screech, "What a finisher!" Kthulhu takes the last splat win with a Dynamo Uppercut to the chin!"

The crowd goes wild and roared, happy for Kthulhu's victory. They recently recovered from the uproar, and from the shock that Kthulhu can actually speak, but they shrugged it off as soon as Kthulhu gets the last splat. Yeran and Verique is hugging each other, ecstatic to his victory.

In the Ammo Knights, loud noises and cheers filled the shop, as well drowning out voice of Sheldon cheering. Zrix is still absent, and still unnoticed by anyone.

In the Eelectric Wailers, the customers there, either drunk or sober, are having a partyas they cheer for Kthulhu, whilst the bartender grabbed a new batch of wine bottles and wine glasses at the storage area for the customers to drink, and Anthur plays a remix that he made. He looks quite content and relieved that he will not go through their shite anytime soon. Although they have to pay to repair the damaged property, broken bottles, and probably broken eardrums as well, they are enjoying themselves.

In the flower shop, Leili sighed in relief; her hands are on her chest, gripping on an amulet. She really is happy to see him win in the end.

Ryoko, the 1st, alongside with the other senior members of the Officials, are waiting outside the Battle Lobby for the fighters to come out. Ryoko has a grin on her face, impressed. She will be asking Kthulhu to join the League's Powerful Fighters.

In the League's Powerful Fighters HQ, all of the members except for 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 9th are cheering loudly while they party. The said exempted members are smiling, impressed. They are all excited for Kthulhu to join their ranks.

"The start of the duel did not really go out well for Kthulhu, but in the end, he comes out on top with a powerful uppercut of victory!" Marie remarked, with her lips formed into an impressed grin, while fixing a tissue in her left ear, "Don't you think it's amazing, Cal?"

"Oh, you don't even need to ask, Marie! It's freakin' AWESOME!" Her sister punches the air with her left hand.

"And that's all of it folks! That's the end of the Duel between Kthulhu, and Yudius, with Kthulhu claims the victory!" Marie announced, as she and her sister is about to conclude the broadcast, "I hope you enjoy the fight, and I hope your time is well-spent watching this!"

"Thanks for watching, everyone!" Callie follows up, who is also ready to finish, "And also, I hope you enjoyed the honorary commentary we gave you for the duel! Now, our time is up, so now we will be off air in a next few seconds."

"So, again, I hope you enjoy the show. And remember…"

" _Stay Fresh!_ " The Squid Sisters said their signature catchphrase in unison, while doing their signature pose, and after a few seconds, they went off air, concluding the broadcast.

 _The Duel, as the Inklings want to call it, will now go down to the Inkopolis Hall of Fame, as the most viewed battle of the year…_

* * *

So this is it, huh…?

We lost… heh… Props to you Kthulhu…

Yudius will be finally gone for the next few years…

* * *

…

…

So…

It's finally over…

…

…

Heh, I'm… glad…

This battle sure takes a lot of me… I'm almost out of breath for all of those tricks I've been showing the last half of the match…

This battle… will not be forgotten… and it will stay in me as a bitter memory as long as I live…

This may be the battle that I have been waiting for… but this is the battle that I _hate_ the most…

* * *

The glow from Kthulhu's eyes are slowly started to fade away, like fire that are blown away by the wind. The darkness obscuring his eyes and half of his eyes faded away as well. His closed are becoming visible once again.

 _Thank cod…_ He thought…

 _It's finally over…_

After that thought, all of the fighters in Port Mackerel are teleported away, and brought back to the lobby, with Kthulhu almost exhausted because of the fight…

* * *

 **AU –** And that's it! Kthulhu have won victorious, while he, Yudius, and Terof leaves a permanent mark on Inkopolis history with a pinch of salt! Of course, there will be another chapter, except it's not the bonus chapter… (sheesh, I'm bad at planning things lol)

Geez, I didn't expect the fight will be **_this long_** … 7,899 words of freakin' action is so damn long, I decided that the epilogue will be in the next chapter. I guess change of plans are happening once again. XD

And big shoutout to **_Wes Sirius_** , for having my characters in his amazing story (I appreciate it, m8, :D), " **Splatoon: A New Adventure** " that I recommend that you go check out.

And once again! Change of plans, there will another chapter, and it will be the final chapter (for real this time) before the bonus chapter, which I will call " _The Aftermatch."_ I'll see you soon in the next chapter!

Here's a preview for the next chapter;

* * *

" _You better have a good reason to talk shite about her while I am listening, **Yudius** …" _he said, with menace and anger tinted in his tone, while holding Yudius' wrist tightly…

"Ghh! Let go of me!" Yudius demanded, while he attempts to get away from his grasp.

" _Let's see about that…"_

* * *

And that's it for the preview! I'll see you soon in the next chapter!

 **Development will be made in –** _Late March_

 **Chapter will be uploaded in** – _Between Late March to Middle of April, either earlier or later._


	6. Wish

**_A/N –_** _Warning: some parts of this chapter is… rather violent. Precede with caution… this chapter kinda pains me for obvious reasons… and for the obvious reasons as well, this will be Rated T. (plus, this chapter might get boring because of the absurd length) (and this chapter is for real, not like yesterday, lol)_

 _Have I told you how bad I am at planning things? Welp, use this one as an example…_

 _I didn't expect this chapter would be much, much longer than the two parts of The Duel Combined! Holy shet XD I just hope that this chapter is worth all your time, as well as mine... XP_ _Also, I was trying to put a link here in the AF version of this chapter. Here's the link to an image that I made for The Duel -_ _/cthulhusplatoon. tumblr /post/172227420307/some-things-are-not-meant-to-be-heard-some (just remove the space and add hh tt tt pp ss/ and . c o m :D)_

 _This chapter will be dialogue driven, with less action, and more on character development, story progression, and a little backstory from a certain character. Hope you all enjoy! :D_

* * *

 **Epilogue**

 **-Wish-**

* * *

All of the fighters in the Duel have been teleported back to the lobby. Kthulhu is exhausted from the fight, and will temporarily stop playing Turf Wars in the next few hours to rest. Yudius is rubbing his chin, despite being healed as he respawn, he can still feel pain slightly thanks to experience. Terof is rubbing his forehead not from sweat, but from all of the headshots he endured in the last match. The black squid is just standing there, looking at Kthulhu with awe. The cheering squids outside can be faintly heard outside.

Kthulhu, right after he got back to the lobby, putting his Dynamo Roller on his back beside his own ink tank, he is about walk his way out of the lobby, until Yudius called out that is, "Hey you- owowowowow!" He groaned in pain through his teeth, thanks to his chin, as he is about to call Kthulhu, "Come back here, you faqin' cheater!"

He stopped dead on his tracks, then looks at Yudius over his left shoulder.

"You think you can get away from what you just _did_!?" He angrily started, showing his slaty side once again, "I see through your hacks! No one can run that freakin' fast and jump that high up in the air!"

He remained silent, still looking over his shoulder at Yudius with a now cold and emotionless gaze.

"And how you redirect that damn Inkstrike back at one of my mates?! I saw that, and that's clearly cheating and completely against the rules!"

 _Look who's talking salt…_

"You should've been dead by now, you f-" Before he can even continue, Kthulhu turned away and started to walk out of the lobby again, completely ignoring him, "Hey! GET BACK HERE!"

Before he even get out, the lobby door opened, sounds of cheering inklings have blasted into the lobby, revealing an Inkling Girl with yellow tentacle hair with cyan tips, wearing a very familiar gear. That Inkling Girl is one of his first friends; Yeran.

"Kthulhu!" Yeran runs to him and immediately hugged him by the waist, "You won! I can't believe you won!"

He slightly blushed, but he returned the hug to the happy Yeran. I, the narrator already said this too many times, but saying that Yeran is happy is an understatement; she is quite ecstatic. Right after that, Verique came in on sight, a big grin on his face.

"'vel, 'vel, 'vel, looks like ze faith we put didn't go to waste," Verique said, "Congratulations, K." He then raised his arms, inviting Kthulhu in an arm bump.

Kthulhu's rare smile got a little wider, as both he and Yeran broke their hug. He walked to him, and bumped arms like best friends.

That celebration did not last long though, as Yudius called him out once again, "Kthulhu! Hope you are done with them, because I AM NOT DONE WITH- owow!" He groaned in pain once again thanks to his chin. He muttered, "Stupid faqin' chin…"

Yeran chuckled at Yudius struggled, "How does it feel to have someone else sucker punch you, huh, Yudius?"

" _Yeran…_ " His voice is now tainted with poison, an occasionally deadly combo. Before he started to speak again, he looks outside of the lobby, just to see cheering squids throwing squid parties every-freakin'-where. Near the entrance is a tall Inkling girl with purple tentacle hair with blue tips, wears a purple Legendary Cap, a trench coat-like hoodie with the Tentatek brand in its right sleeve, long cycling shorts with purple zigzag patterns instead of just a straight line, and Moto Boots with shades of blue.

Behind her is a group of five Inklings in black suits and shades, with a Ranked Battle logo in their coat pockets. They are the Official Turf War Association, or simply known as Officials, are a group of adult and experienced Inklings that are responsible for keeping the Turf War games competitive, fun, and hack-and-cheat-free games. It was created right after the Great Turf War.

They are here, but for what reason? They are outside, and they seem to be waiting. Yudius then shrugs them off, as he thought might be out of earshot to hear them.

He then looked back Kthulhu, "Would you look at that! Looks like the OTWA is here, maybe someone saw our battle, and see that you have tried to cheat."

Verique glares at Yudius, "Here 've go again, Yudius. He won already, Yudius, fair and square!"

"Fair AND SQUARE!? YOU CALL THAT FAIR AND SQUARE!?" Yudius yelled at Verique, "THEN EXPLAIN TO ME HOW DID HE- wai- owowowow, faqin…! Wait a minute, how can you even say that he won fair and square? You watched our match?!"

"Yeah, _we_ did!" Verique shouted back, his eyes are flaring up, "Not just us, but also 'ze Inklings outside have as 'vell!"

"W-what- owowow!" Yudius rubs his chins once more, and continued, "What do you mean they also watched?!"

"Don't you know? That the Duel is all a setup to expose you out, you squid sack!" Yeran said, eyes are flaring and eyes are glaring on Yudius.

He slowly turns his head, menacingly glares back at here with the same intensity as Kthulhu's glowing eyes, irises are as small as Terof's, " _You_ …"

"Gotta problem with that shet, Yudius?! That is for my friends you have victimize, you _cladhaire madra_!"

" _You…_ " He then suddenly throws his fist directly at Yeran's forehead, "… nosy **_BITCH_**!"

 _His fist connected to her forehead, making her stagger backwards violently…_

" _ARGH_!" She screamed in pain as she stumbled backwards, and she falls to the ground, her hands clutching to her forehead. That is one powerful punch.

Kthulhu froze and his heart skipped a beat, his expression darkened once again. Verique's eyes widened, lips and cheeks are twitching in near-rage, "YERAN!" He then runs to Yeran's side and helps her sit up. He then inspects her forehead; it is slightly bleeding with yellow ink. Seeing her bleeding forhead is enough for Kthulhu's eyes to darken, literally, once more, and light slowly flickers under his hat once more.

 ** _YuDiUS…_**

"Yudius, you bastard!" Verique yelled, "She already has been through enough!"

"Do I look like I care?" Yudius said, in a dangerously murderous tone, "Plotting against me, huh? So much for having a _private_ battle, you fawqs…"

"Yeah, so what, Yudius?!" Verique retorted, while holding onto the injured Yeran tightly in his arms, "It's _your_ **fault** 'zat we do 'zis-!"

" _My fault? MY_ ** _FAULT?!_** _It'll be_ ** _your_** _fault that both of you will-_ " He then throws another punch Verique's face, "- ** _BE IN THE HOSPITAL FOR INSULTI-_** Suddenly, his hand was grabbed by a familiar Inkling wearing a hoodie, and a shit eating grin that he knows all too well, except this time, his eyes are pitch black, and the white irises are missing.

 _Zrix…_ He has arrived in time to stop Yudius' fist to hit Verique in the face.

"Wha- " Zrix then forcefully pulls back and away from Verique. "What the?! **Zrix?!** "

" _Hi,_ " Zrix greeted in a casual tone, which still brings chills even more than seeing his irises disappear, " _Long time no see, Yudius. Now…_

" _You better have a good reason to be trying to talk shit about her while I am listening,_ ** _Yudius_** he said, with menace and anger tinted in his tone, while holding Yudius' wrist tightly…

"Ghh! Let go of me!" Yudius demanded, while he attempts to get away from his grasp.

" _Let's see about that…"_

"LET GO OF ME-" And with the same force Zrix used to grab his wrist, he pushed him away from Yeran and Veriqe, and to Kthulhu. Kthulhu is glaring at Yudius with murderous intent; his eyes are glowing once again.

As soon as Yudius is pushed in front of Kthulhu and looked up on him, the first thing he saw is Kthulhu's glowing eyes, and he said, " _Yudius… I had enough of your stupid shite already. Now you punched one of my friends…"_ Kthulhu then punched him with incredible speed and power with his left fist, connecting it to his nose,

"EERGH!" Yudius holds onto his nose as he stumbled backwards in pain onto the black squid, which his lips are slightly twitching as he tried to help him get up. Yudius glared at Kthulhu with the same intensity as he did with Yeran as soon as he recovered, his nose is bleeding ink as well, " _You…_ bastard… to try and punch me, and fake his disability to us all... Better turn your back, you have the Officials right behind you-"

" ** _-that is coming right for you_** …" Kthulhu finished in such a serious and monotone voice, " _Anak ng pating_ , _naman oh_ … You're a coward for using the name of the Officials to scare me, Yudius…

"… **_That's a bitch move you did there, you twat_**..."

Yudius' eyes began to flare up even more, as he wipes off the ink that is on his nose, "You're a fool, Kthulhu," He then stands up with difficulty, before he continues, "Don't you know, Kthulhu, why I do this for a living? You don't, do you? Want me to tell you _why_ I fight off noobs and take them out of Inkopolis?

"It's because of Ranked Battles… newbies get to the high rank they ever wanted to get, but they still battle like faqin' noobs. _DO YOU THINK THEY DESERVE SUCH RANK IF THEY CAN'T EVEN PLAY LIKE HOW THEY SUPPOSED TO BE IN THEIR CURRENT RANK?!_ Huh, Kthulhu!?

"We are the judge if they deserve or not to be in their rank. So that's why there are a few S rank players at this current date, excluding the LEF. We destroy those who are underserving of their rank, and we stop them from going any further from A, because we don't like the likes of them here in Turf War games…

"You understand our purpose here now, Kthulhu?! I have seen those two-" he then points at Yeran And Verique, "-battle before. Verique is a perfectionist who can't even do anything perfectly right. Yeran is a lesbian who is hopeless whenever she finds a beautiful Inkling at the battlefield! Do you think they deserve to gain up to their ranks if they have those traits _that will neither help both of them?!_ "

Kthulhu, with his glowing eyes have faded away, looks at Yeran, who is blushing in embarrassment. What Yudius has said is true; she _is_ a lesbian. One time he joined Yeran and Verique in normal matches, he saw her space out, with the reason she is ogling at a gracefully beautiful Inkling who carries a .50 Gal. She got splatted by her for at least three times.

On the other hand, Verique has so many obvious qualities of being a perfectionist. When they are planning to expose Yudius, he said once, "We need to execute this plan successfully and perfectly." Kthulhu didn't know that he actually meant it…

And one time, he planned something for his team in order to win. They won, but not according to plan at all because a teammate of theirs kinda… disconnected from the game, and he got frustrated about it, like an architect getting frustrated on a failed project.

Yudius continued, "Now Kthulhu, do you see now? Their traits makes them how underserving they are when to be in the likes of our ranks! That's why I do this; I want to keep those noobs out of the Ranked Games at minimal, and to keep the number of skillful Turf War players in Ranked at maximum!

"That's the _purpose of the duel_ , Kthulhu; _to test if you are worthy of being in the Ranks of the Veterans! To test if you are worth to stay in the Ranks! To show you not to faq around with your superiors!_ And that match, you _cheated_! You changed your speed of your movements and how you swing! I know you tinkered that Dynamo of yours, you know we tinkered ours, but that doesn't mean you can _cheat_ like you can get away with it!"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as soon as he finished ranting. Kthulhu did not really technically cheat, because that was his _natural_ speed, nothing more. The training he had with his father strengthen his endurance and speed, his strength and durability, his cardio and agility, as well as his mental mind and verbal power when it comes to bluntly calling someone out, and delivering factual insults in a very straightforward and in a very savage way possible.

"Now, I tell you this. Do you know an Inkling Girl that looks a lot like you, that many can mistake you two as siblings?"

 _Kyla…_ He knows her too well; she's his sister that hasn't seen for at least two years. He frowns at Yudius for making her remember his guilt once more.

"That face looked like you know or heard of her. She is a B-minus player, uses Inkbrushes and Sloshers, an she is quite the beauty. I've seen her fight, and she fought a group of three fighters, just to get splatted before she can even get one splat. _It's a foolish move don't you think, Kthulhu_?"

 _Hrrrr, I need to keep my temper, or else this lobby would get messy, and not in a good way…_ It is a foolish move if nothing is accomplished after she got splatted.

"Such fools do not deserve to be in rank, don't you think? And her kindness won't make her rise up to the top either. She is nothing without her friends and family around her to back her up, and that _depressed_ squid will never know what it mean to fight in Ranked. In Ranked, the strongest shall always be at the top, and the one who are undeserving shall always hit rock bottom, just like _her_ …"

"Zat's not true! You are being cliché-ish, Yudius, and what you said about Kyla will never be true!" Verique protested, his glare intensifies, "You can't even beat her, Yudius, so stop wasting time to talk shet about her."

"Oh, yeah, _do I look like I care about it_? Even if it is a cliché, know that what I said is true about what it truly means to be part of the rank, and how foolish all of you and Kyla are."

"Look who's talking," Zrix retorted back, "Like what you believe about power, you are just one squid who is salty enough to talk shet about everything. Power is not everything, especially in Ranked."

"Tsk, tsk, Zrix, you don't understand, do you?

"We _all_ have craved for power in some point in our lives, not just for domination, but for something that you want to do, and you need to do…" Yudius started, now glaring at Zrix, "Even the guys with a good heart crave for it, too, and for various other reasons, like either to help, save, fight, or defend themselves or others. Don't you think so, Zrix?"

"I know that, Yudius," Zrix slightly looked down, looking miserable, "I've already given up that power that would consume my own mind."

"That means you are just that _weak_ and _pathetic_ , Zrix, no matter how good you are at Turf Warring. I already have told this to you a million times, you garbage, now I have to say it again." He then looks back Kthulhu, "You know what it means to have some kind of power, do you, Kthulhu? To save _someone_ that you loved, to get what you want, to take and do what you need, to accomplish your goals, to achieve your dreams? Do you know **_what_** it **_means_** , and **_how_** it **_feels_** , Kthulhu?"

Sadly, he does know. It is a feeling that he knows all too well, without him even asking about it. This knowledge and feelings are a curse to him; it always brings him despair, and it brings back the past that he can never forget, even if he tried. These things drive him to be silent, to the point that he is mistaken as a mute, using only sign language, hands that doesn't bring out one's emotions openly, and uses his own silence to conceal these negative emotions welling up on him.

Yudius observes Kthulhu's behavior and appearance; the glow on his eyes is slowly shrinking, nearly fading, his expression told that he looked kinda down, and somehow, guilty. He is silently still, like always.

Yudius' grinned, thinking that he might've hit a bad spot in his heart that he could not take, and continued, "With every noobs taken out, the more we gain power to control the Ranked, and we enough of it, they will know their places. You believe me that is always the case, do you? Why am I doing this? Why taking noobs away from Ranked Games is better for all of us here?"

Everyone in the lobby looked at him expectantly, waiting for his response. With his posture and behavior, it's hard to tell what the truly feels. No one can tell, not even Zrix, not even his two friends, not even Yudius, not even Terof, neither the black squid knows…

Silence swept across the room, excluding the noises outside.

Verique and Yeran's heart beat increases, anxious because of the feeling of suspense. Zrix is fiercely looking at Kthulhu with his white irises staring at him. Yudius is grinning, Terof is silently watching the whole scene, and the black squid is looking at Kthulhu with the same expectant look. With every second passed, tension is slowly rising in intensity.

Kthulhu then looks around the lobby, seeing his friends' expression, and Yudius and his gang's expression, while noticing the black squid's expression; his expression is expectant, and anxious, just like his other friends. He saw it through the aviator shades he is wearing.

He then took a deep breath, a deep breath to indicate that he will answer. A second later, he answered, "I believe…" The expression to his friends morphed from anxious to tense. Verique's eyes widened, Yeran's hands clutched to her chest, and Zrix's expression darkens.

 _I know that power is what we needed…_

 _I know that I crave for it… even now…_

 _I know that we all crave for this power…_

 _I know that we all need power…_

 _We all know that…_

… _but…_

 _I believe…_

"… ** _that you are a sorry excuse of a veteran, Yudius_** "

 ** _BURN!_**

Those words had put more salt into the already salty squid. Yeran and Verique eyes widened a little more, Zrix had a satisfied grin on your face, the black squid's lips formed a small smile, and Yudius' grin faded completely in disbelief. His expression changed quickly, and it turned into a scowl, matching Kthulhu's expression.

"You bastard…" Yudius started, boiling with anger, "You really are a _fool_ if you don't get what I-"

"I get what you mean, Yudius," Kthulhu interrupted, eyes are glowing brighter than before, "I know the 'power' you are taking about…

"… But you're actions already deemed you a coward. You can't just push Inklings off of the Ranked Games with your so-called 'power' that you believed in so much. Too bad this belief got into your head, enough to make you an egotistical asshat…"

Zrix puts a thumbs on Kthulhu, satisfaction is increasing, "Well said, K."

Yudius' anger meter is nearing its maximum limit, his temper is about to explode, "You're insults are nothing compared to what my words truly mean! Better grow up with more than just mere spiteful words!"

"I'm not insulting you, you dumb squid; I'm telling the truth that what you are doing before this stupid duel makes you a coward." Kthulhu countered and criticized. His temper hasn't got the best of him yet, and he will try his best to prevent it from happening.

"I'm also telling the truth! I already said it like moments ago! What I deem to your stupid friends worth, you cheating in our duel, about power, and about Ky-"

" ** _DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK HER NAME, TANGINANG PUSIT KA!_** " For the first time, Kthulhu raised his voice in anger at Yudius, cussing in Lapunian language. He hasn't given up on holding his temper back, but by the way he shouts, his anger might've got the hold of him already.

His friends were taken aback when he spoke in anger, as well as the way he spoke a Lapunian slang. While Yeran and Verique doesn't know what they mean, Zrix knew what those words means perfectly well.

He then points his right index finger at Yudius, and continued, "You should be careful with your words, Yudius, _or I will make you eat them by shoving them back to your throat._ "

"What in the name of shet is wrong with you?! You are becoming defensive to that brat, eh!? You really think you know her more than me or any of her friends that are here in the lobby right now, huh?!"

He then puts his arms down and stuffs his hands in the pockets of his cycling shorts, before he answered, " _I do_ , because you are already **_speaking to her brother right now…_** " Kthulhu revealed the reason of his anger on Yudius.

The revelation shocked everyone in the lobby, with the exception of Zrix, who suspected it ever since he first met him in Ammo Knights. He can see the resemblance between the two inklings; both Kyla and Kthulhu have closed eyelids, almost the same expression, same nationality, specifically Lapunian; and lastly, both have the same determination that can never be seen, it can only be felt by anyone who knows her well enough.

Silence took over for at least a few seconds, but didn't last longer than five seconds, and Yeran and Verique are the first to broke the silence, "WHAT?! You're Kyla's brother?!"

Yudius is still glaring at Kthulhu, but with disbelief mixed in to his expression. The black squid's mouth is agape for a second before he closed it. _I suspected that he is related to her in some way. This confirms about my suspicion, albeit just unexpected_ , he thought.

"And you're the only fool here, Yudius, thinking power will achieve you anything," Kthulhu continued to berate Yudius, "Grow up, a veteran like you doesn't deserve the position you have attained now. You call yourself one, but you can't even act like one. If the other Turf War veterans saw you, you would be disgraced for being such a wimp."

"You are only powerful 'vhen he is fighting lower ranks 'vwith Terof and 'zat black dude, Yudius," Verique, who immediately recovered from the shocking revelation, berated him, "You are a coward 'zat is ironically feared by younger and lower ranking squids, and he doesn't deserve 'ze standing you are in now!"

"You beat up squids, lower ranking kids, and newbie squids that are not good enough in your eyes," Yeran finally spoke after she recovered from getting punched in the forehead and from the said revelation, "And what you said about power will only make me think that you are just an idiot megalomaniac who can't do anything right."

"You heard 'em, Yudius?" Zrix joined in, his signature is formed on his lips once again, "Take a hint of what the other peeps here mean. They saw your true colors, and now they are showing you those colors by shoving them to your face."

Yudius looked around the lobby; Terof is still unmoved, the black squid has his neutral expression still, Verique is glaring at him, Yeran is tending to her forehead injury, Zrix is grinning triumphantly, and Kthulhu… the glow is getting dim, and dimmer and dimmer and dimmer, until it is dim enough to reveals his still glowing pupils; in his right eye, it is pure blood red eye, and his left eyes are pure sea green eye. It's like Zrix's pupils, but with color, and much more menacing.

"I understand what you mean about power, and about noobs being in the Ranked Games," Kthulhu started by admitting, he then closed his eyes, blocking the light glowing in his eyes, "I know how underserving they can be if they continue to act like one in Ranked Games…

"… But-" He then opened his eyes, the glow on his eyes are as dim as earlier, but much more fiercer than last time, like it can melt steel by just looking at it, "-you _can't_ just use **_power_** as an _excuse_ to **_pummel_** low ranking squids to the ground just because they are noobs, and they don't deserve the rank they got. It will always show how much of a **_coward_** you are, and it will always tell how **_weak_** you are…

"… _and it also tells that you're just a_ ** _pathetic_** ** _squid_** _who puts_ ** _salt_** _to_ ** _yourself_** _and_ ** _others'_** ** _wounds_** …"

Did we tell you about his verbal power? Yep that's what we meant about that. He is real savage when angry…

That sentence just punched Yudius' anger meter into oblivion, and he flew into rage. He was about to lunge at Kthulhu and beat him to death, until the black squid suddenly grabbed both of his hands before he can even get near him. He then forced him to hit the floor, putting both of Yudius' arms to his own back, completely subduing him.

 ** _BAITED!_**

This surprised everyone in the lobby, except for the black squid and Zrix as well. Kthulhu did not expect Yudius' own comrade would take him down like a police officer subduing a criminal.

"What the-" He tried to break free from the black squid's control, while trying to look backa t the black squid, "ESPIO?! WHAT THE FAQ ARE DOING?!"

"What do you think I am doing, Yudius?" The black squid, who's name is apparently Espio, and for the first time, spoke and answered, speaking in a mix of _Iberian_ accent, "You have said enough.

"… _Enough to guarantee ban your betch-ass out of the ranks…_ "

And with that, an Inkling and the Officials finally came into the scene. Verique and Yeran noticed them (except for Ryoko), but they are wondering why they haven't entered the lobby. It has been like four or so minutes of them standing by outside the lobby either doing nothing or waiting for something.

Feeling that they look like Officials, Kthulhu closed his eyes once again and stepped aside to his left to give way, and also to try to calm himself down. The anger is taking a mental toll on him. While Yudius over there is shouting out cusses at Espio, a female Inkling who is just as tall as Kthulhu, pockets on her black oversized jacket, has lightning blue eyes, purple tentacle hair with sea blue tips, while wearing a Legendary Cap with every shade of Purple.

She stopped in front of him, as she glanced towards him. Her expression is stoic, both of them staring each other. A few seconds passed, The Inkling then smiled, seems impressed and satisfied, as she breaks eye contact with him. He then heard her mutter, "Actions speaks louder than words, but your bark sure is as powerful as your bite," before she moves to the pinned Yudius.

"Took them long enough to come in…" Zrix muttered. He must've been thinking the same thing as Verique and Yeran.

"ESPIO, LET ME GO, YOU IBERIAN NUMB SKU-"

"Speak another word, and I'll make sure your chin will not be the only thing that is broken in your head." Espio interrupted. At this point, Yudius stopped talking, partly because he always gets cut off abruptly before he can even finish with his sentence.

Without another word, Yudius looked at Kthulhu's direction. What he saw is a pair of Blue Moto Boots that is in front of his face.

"Well, well, well, look who's here," A feminine voice is heard, coming from the owner of those Moto Boots. He then saw her squat down to get a closer view on him. He then saw her oversized hoodie, her right glove that has the Roman numeral _I_ , and her long cycling shorts that have a zigzag pattern, a pattern unique to the other cycling shorts Inklings usually wear. He then looked up, seeing the Inkling's victorious smile, which can be as terrifying as Kthulhu's glowing eyes.

"Didn't expect that you go down that easily when enraged, _Yudius_ ," The Inkling spoke, "And thanks to your little speech earlier during your little duel and now, the ban hammer will have a guaranteed hit on you."

This made Yudius and Terof tense. He didn't know that there would be cameras that would show the Duel to almost everyone in Inkopolis, including the Officials and this familiar Inkling.

"And to add up to the damage, Kyla is also a great friend of mine, and you said everything that I hate to her about her," Now her tone is covered with menace, she is actually much scarier than Kthulhu can get, "I'm afraid that _a ban_ can't just do it."

Everyone knew what she meant, and it means that it will never be a good thing whoever gets the sharp end of her words. Before she stands up, "Hope the _punishment_ will teach you a lesson, and I hope that this punishment helps you grow up." She then flicked his forehead with her right hand, before she stands up and turns around to face the Officials, who are waiting for her decision.

"Take him away, mates, along with his friend Terof," she carries out her decisions and the Officials approaches offenders. Terof has no other choice but to comply, Espio lets him free while Yudius gets grabbed by two adult Inklings, escorting both of them out of the lobby. Before Yudius got taken away completely, he turned around to Espio, and mouthed the word _Judas_. He, Terof, and their escorts are completely out of sight.

Silence filled the room, and as soon as they got out of sight, the lobby door closed, blocking the sound of angry squids outside. Espio then stared at the Inkling with the Legendary Cap, while she stares at him back. A second later, she smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, and said, "You did well back there, mate."

Espio smiled happily, and respectfully bowed to the Inkling, "Obrigado, Ryoko."

She chuckled sweetly, like a master who is satisfied and happy for her student's accomplishment. Meanwhile, Verique and Yeran has their mouth agape, surprised splashes down to their faces. Kthulhu, while knelt down beside Yeran, looked at them, confused.

"R-Ryoko?" Yeran stutters as she tried to contain her… excitement? Kthulhu can't really tell, but she is getting awfully ecstatic the second she heard the name of Ryoko. He though it might be the Inkling with the Legendary Cap is her name, "As in, _Ryoko Date_ , the 1st Ranked Fighter in whole Inkopolis from the League Elite Fighters!?"

The said Inkling looked at the two Inklings, and gave them a wink and a proud smile, "Yep, That's me; Ryoko Date, or so they call me 'The Lightning Dragon of the East.' It's pretty much an exaggerated title, but I like it."

 _The Lightning Dragon of the East, she says…?_

Yeran gasped, and she was so excited her forehead aches, "Ow, ow, ow!" she clutches to her forehead, while Kthulhu brought out a handkerchief and puts it on her forehead.

Ryoko's facial expression turned to worry, "You alright there, m8? He punched your forehead really hard."

"No worries, Ryoko, I'm alright," She said, but sounded like she tried to convince herself, which is not really working.

A sigh came out of Ryoko's mouth, and said, "Well, we'll have to take you to a clinic later…" her head then turns around to Espio, "You can take the foundation off your nose now, y'know."

"Already on it," Espio then wipes the bridge of his nose with his own handkerchief, revealing a scar that the foundation has perfectly hid, "It feels weird having that thing in my scar, but it worked out well."

"So 'vwait," Verique tried to deduce, "you, Espio, are an associate, or should I say, _spy_ , for Ryoko?"

Kthulhu hands over his handkerchief to Yeran, which is not stained with ink, and stands up, staring at Espio.

"To answer your question, I'm not _her_ spy," Espio corrected, "I can act as one. I'm Ryoko's disciple."

 _Disciple?_ He is quite surprised that someone from Yudius' gang is actually one of Ryoko's students. Now, he kinda felt bad for fighting him the duel match, and now he understands why he looked so reluctant earlier. Verique is somewhat flabbergasted, "Disciple?! 'Zat means you're…"

"Yes, mate, I am teaching him my ways in Turf Warring," Ryoko confirmed, with a smile that looked and smelled like pride, "He's a great fighter don'cha think, Kthulhu?"

To answer that question, he can at least agree with her. He then looked at him; his gaze is focusing on the floor. By the look on his face, he looked like his guilty, and he already knew why.

Espio sighed, and looked at Kthulhu, "Hey, Kthulhu, I… wanted to apologize about earlier." His voice is full of guilt, "About what Yudius did to you and your friends. I was part of their group before I knew of their actions, about a few weeks ago, under the name of ' _Espio_ ', so that I can fulfill my dreams of getting to the top with a squad.

"Until Ryoko told me about Yudius that is fighting off squids and remove them from the Ranked Games, I initially didn't believe her, but after some observation during some of our battles, and during the duel, I have changed my mind, and I felt guilty for doubting my own teacher…"

"Don't sweat, mate," Ryoko said, "Doubting someone is just a naturally thing that always happens to all of us. Although most of us Inklings can't really handle doubt too well…"

 _Oh I know that feeling, Miss Ryoko…_ Kthulhu stares at him for a while. After some thought, he then approaches him, and speaks, "So that's why you look like you're about to back out before we even start dueling."

Espio looked at him, confused on what he meant, "What do you mean by that?"

"My closed eyes don't lie, Espio, I can see your eyes even if you have those shades of yours, and I can see that you are reluctant to fight me."

He paused for a minute, thinking. A few seconds later of thought, he nodded, "Yeah, I just feel it's… unfair that we have to fight you 1-v-3. No one wants that, so I tried to go easy on you so that you have a fighting chance, until you freakin' blasted us into next year in the second half of the match, that is…"

Oh he remembered… and he hoped that he will never think about it or talk about it again…

"You don't need to feel guilty about it," He continues, "You have nothing to do with this. I know you're just forced to fight me because of something stupid happened during my first match against him. And you did a good job fighting there, so you should be proud that, at least. I bet you learned all of those from Ryoko."

He didn't need to look back to know that she is beaming with pride. Espio smiled, "Yep, she did. She is the one that helped me in creating my own fighting style, which, the fighting style is kind of similar to yours.

"So anyway, again, I want to apologize. What Yudius and Terof did and said is unexcusable…"

"Like I said," Kthulhu puts his left hand in his right shoulder, "you have nothing to do with what happened earlier, you're just forced to be dragged in to it. Let's just… forget about it and move on…" That is rather difficult to say, but he managed to say it…

Espio looked surprised. He didn't really expect such response, despite him repeating what he said earlier, but he managed to smile, "So that means we're cool?"

"We're cool, Espio," Kthulhu smiled back, and he invited him in a fist bump. Espio didn't waste any more time to accept it.

"Please call me Raei, my real name. Espio is just a guise that I used when I was a member of Yudius' gang, which I am no longer part of."

"Very well then, Raei,"

Meanwhile, Ryoko seems to be pleased, and her smile is just getting wider, "Look at the new buddies. I can't believe how fast they become friends..."

"He sure has the same trait with his sister," Zrix added, "The trait to make friends with others as quickly, even if he was formerly associated with his own enemies."

"Power of friendship, Zrix, power of friendship…" Ryoko nodded in agreement. She then looked at Yeran and Verique, who are talking to each other. Nothing special, they are just talking about Kthulhu and Kyla. Yeran's forehead wound is slowly mending, so there is nothing to worry too much about, but she still needs to check the clinic, that punch looked powerful.

Before she can even do anything, the remaining member of the Officials tapped walked to Kthulhu, hands behind his back. _Here we go…_

"Sir Kthulhu-"

"Kthulhu, no _sir_ or anything like that..."

"… Kthulhu" The member called out for him, his tone is serious and grave, "I wanted to speak with you…"

Kthulhu then looked back to face him, with the other Inklings inside the lobby stopped whatever they are doing and started focusing their attention to Kthulhu.

"Sir Kthulhu, we Officials admire the performance you have done during the Duel. You did work on those fish sticks. They will deserve whatever punishment they will get…

"But to do so, you cheated as well. You remember when you splatted the black gentlemen over there the first time? That speed is… unnatural, it's like you padded yourself with a rocket and you zoom your way to him. And the way you stopped that Inkstrike? Do you think anyone can do a feat such as that? No one is allowed to do that, because we know how dangerous and unfair could it be when redirecting someone's Inkstrike back to them."

He knows, be he couldn't really help it when he is in a fit of rage. It has to be done.

"Do you understand what I mean, Kthulhu?" He asked, "I know that you are enraged, but still, all of us need to respect and abide the rules inside and outside of Turf Wars, even if it's just a private match."

 _I guess it couldn't be helped…_ At least he means well, but he can't really help it. Then something came into his mind, and he decided to ask the member of the Officials about it, "What about tinkered weapons? Isn't that in some degree, cheating?"

" _Yes_ and _no_. Well, tinkered weapons are not allowed in Official Turf War Games, but it is allowed in Private Matches. It's Sheldon's request to allow any modified weapons in Private Matches, as long as it does not do anything to destroy the properties in the stages and other places. Reason is to test out weapons that Zrix behind me has modified."

"I see… so I'll be banned in Turf Wars?"

Once again, tense filled the room and silence made it worse. Getting banned in the Official Turf War games takes about a week to be lifted, cheat again and you will be banned for a month, and so on until the fourth ban will be a permanent ban.

The member of the Officials closed his eyes, thinking. This lasted at least for ten seconds, with every second the tension is straining Kthulhu's friends. Finally, he opened his eyes, and spoke, "Depends on the type of cheat you used. Normally, you _will_ get banned, but since Ryoko, the Lightning Dragon of the East, is the one to Judge, she'll be the one to say if you will be banned or not. But knowing her, she would likely say no." He then looked at her, "Is that correct, Miss Ryoko?"

"You right, Sir Escanor," Ryoko answered, "I wanted to talk to him about something. It's important"

It piques Kthulhu's interest. _Something important, eh?_ What could it be…

Escanor then looked back at Kthulhu, "Her decision, her verdict, so we will let you go, but one more time you cheat, you will be banned in an instant. Understood?" Kthulhu nodded at his warning. He's not intentionally plan to cheat anyway. "Good…"

He then turns around and faced Ryoko, "I'll be returning back to the OTF Building with the report. There will be other business that I need to attend to. I'll see you later, Ryoko."

"Later, pops," she waved him goodbye, before he leaves the lobby. With that finally out of the way, Ryoko clasped both of her hands together, "Alright, mates, how about a trip to the League HQ?"

* * *

The walk to the HQ was rather short. The HQ is not that far from the Plaza, so they got there in almost no time. Although both of Ryoko and Kthulhu have to deal with a mob of fans, they pass through them and they successfully got to the HQ. While on the way, Yeran is back to her usual self, all talkative and her contagious cheeriness changes the atmosphere completely, even if she is still pretty much injured by the shock from Yudius' punch, but she's alright.

They have arrived at the HQ. It was a two story tall and large building painted in Platinum grey, with the League's logo above a window at what seems to be the second floor; an anchor with two chains. The double door is colored a slightly darker grey, window frames are color pure white.

"Woah…" Yeran and Verique are awestruck by the size of the building.

"Welcome to the League's Elite Fighters' HQ, mates," she introduced, pride once again mixes in her voice, "The building for the most skilled and great fighters in Inkopolis."

"The building was built three years ago, but it took at least a year to finish, for some gosh darn reason," Raei added, "It's not that big in the inside, so don't get too surprised. The insides are nothing that too special…"

"'Zis building is so huge…" Verique is so awestruck he ignored Raei, along with Yeran, who can't seem to contain her excitement, and now is bouncing like a little child that is about to enter a candy story.

"I've been here once before," Zrix said, his hands are on his pockets, "It will be good to be back again to this place…"

"Oh, you'll enjoy going back inside. Now mates! Let's go in!" Ryoko motioned the others to follow her inside, entering the HQ.

Like Raei said, the inside is nothing too special…

As they enter, there is a short and wide hallway that leads to what it seems to be a room full of doors, and maybe some artifact collections. Unlike outside, the halls are painted like the oceans, with marine life in it.

That didn't stop the two certain Inklings, though, which can be either a bad thing or a good thing.

Good thing about it? They are back their usual selves. Bad thing about it? They ignore you completely and run off somewhere to inspect the building. Excited can't really describe how they feel…

"They seem excited," Zrix remarked.

"Excited is an understatement, Zrix," Kthulhu muttered, as he wonders off to the living room. Each room has a window pane beside the door of each room, making him able to see what it looks like inside a particular room.

"Well, they are off rather quickly," Ryoko started, who is amused on how the two friends act. She has not seen many Inklings like them, so it's probably a nice change. She then approaches Kthulhu, who is looking around the living room, "Hey, can you wait here for a moment, Kthulhu? I will be taking them to the place where the other members hang out and have fun, ok? I want to talk to you in private."

Kthulhu nodded, as he leaned beside a window pane that leads to the locker.

She then started to round up Yeran, Verique, Zrix, and Raei and she leads the said Inklings into the door with a name "Main Room" above it, leaving Kthulhu alone in the living room… if it is the living room that is…

* * *

 ** _Three minutes and fifty nine seconds later…_**

* * *

Kthulhu has been waiting for at least four minutes, and Ryoko hasn't come back yet. Judging by the noise that is coming out from the Main Room, it seems she has joined the party.

While she has yet to return, he did a Verique and went into deep thought. It was about her sister, about all of the good times he had with her before he can control they get their full control on their forms. A tinge of sadness mixes with the atmosphere. Her birthday is only a few days away, which doesn't help ease his state of sadness. He was told by Sheldon that his sister is here in Inkopolis, maybe along with his cousins, and they are in his old home, visiting his mother.

He was so in deep thought about his sisters, he didn't notice Ryoko to come out of the Main Room. He only noticed when she started to walk towards him, which instantly broke his train of thoughts. He also noticed that she doesn't have her Inkbrush and the Ink Tank on her back.

"Sorry for the wait, Kthulhu," Ryoko stopped in front of Kthulhu, fixing her Legendary Cap, "There were some important matters in the Main Room as well, so I have to take of that first."

"No worries," Kthulhu stands up straight, hands on his cycling shorts, "So what do you want to talk about?"

She then motions him to follow her, and she leads him to her own room. Again, like Raei said, it's nothing too special; her room is filled with traditional décor and furniture that is usually seen in most parts of the eastern continent. Her walls though, are painted with light sea blue color, with a ceiling fan that has a dragon design in it when it spins it looked like a dragon circling.

"Here we are," Ryoko then takes off her hoodie, wearing only a grey long sleeved shirt on her upper body, and puts it in the stand near the doorway, "Take a sit first, I'll make tea first." Kthulhu nodded as he takes a sit in the chair that is stationed in the table.

 _Thirty seconds later…_

The two Inklings are sipping their tea. The flavor is mint tea, said to be Ryoko's favorite out of all of the tea she ever tasted, and both Inklings are already enjoying each other's company the moment she puts down the tea pot in the table.

"So I was wondering something," Ryoko started, "You look like someone I know a long time ago…"

"Who, my sister?" Kthulhu guessed.

"No, no, no, and yes, you look like your sister, but that's not who I meant…

"But then again… she did somehow look like what I am about to say… I am talking about my old master, who taught everything I need to know…"

 _Hmm, her old master?_ This piqued his interest even more than last time, curious of what she meant, so he asked, "So, who's this master of yours?" _Wait a minute… did she just say my sister did look like her old master? Is she…_

"I'm talking about Kyro de Rodrigo-" Kthulhu completely froze in the sound of that name, "-if you know who he is…"

The sound of the name puts him in a stasis. _Kyro_ … He heard of this name, a name he knows too well to begin with.

"Erh, K?" Ryoko calls out for him by his nickname, who seems to be worried, "You ' _k_? By the look on your face, it seems that you know him."

He was broken out of his own stasis, "S-sorry… that name kinda rings some bells in my memory…"

"So you _do_ know him, yes?"

"Don't know, there are a lot of people in our hometown that is named Kyro, so you have to be specific." He answered vaguely. He is not sure if she is the Kyro that he personally knows too well, so he'll try to make her a bit more detail on who's this person is…

"Well, ok," She then clears her throat before she continues.

She told him that the Kyro she is talking about has long dark grey hair that he tied it back down with sea green tips, has golden eyes, and he has a beard. He always wears a visor cap that has many shades of grey, a silver camo jacket, knee-long pants, and Red Work Boots. That is a gear he knows way too well. She told him that she is the coach of her old team.

"Does he ever battle with one of you?" Kthulhu asked.

"Rarely, but when he does, he can kick our opponent team's ass even when alone," She answered with glee. She then took a sip of her tea.

"Hmm… continue on, describe his character,"

"Short, or Long?"

"Is there in between?"

"We can go with that, if you want."

"Alright, continue,"

She then took a deep breath, before she continues, "He's like… you're typical father-like coach and master; kind, caring, loving, and stuff like that. He gives advices whether in life or in Turf Wars, and he constantly trains us for incoming Turf War Tournaments. That's what he is, like I said, a father figure to my team.

"As my sensei, he usually gave me his tricks and techniques with the _roller_ , _shooter_ , and _inkbrushes_ , as well for some neat tricks in Turf Warring. But he is not just giving me tips and stuff like that, he is always been there for me in the old days, helping me go through problems, hardships, and obstacles. Not just me, but also with my teammates," she then leans against her chair, and looked at her dragon ceiling fan.

"I haven't seen him for over three years now. After I got in the League's Elite Fighters, he said that he'll be leaving, going back to his homeland. We… haven't seen him since…" She let out a sigh, "I always wish that I would see him again someday…"

… Strange…

"Uhm, Ryoko," He felt strange. He thought what she said is familiar, "When did he leave Inkopolis exactly?"

Her eyes looked up, and one of her eyebrows arched. She said it's been so long she has seen him, three years ago to be exact. But… no… it can't be a coincidence… She then looked back at him, and then answered, "I think it's 12th of May, year 2011."

 _Just as I suspected… that's when my father returned home to Lapunia, a year ago before he took me for personal training…_

 _She_ ** _is_** _talking about_ ** _Kyro_** _, my father…_

"Uhh, K, you're spacing for at least five seconds again," Ryoko is starting to get more worried, "Are you really ok? Isn't that fight earlier made you somewhat mentally tired?"

"Geez that's rude," Kthulhu complained, after snapping out of his trance again, "And I'm fine, I'm just… thinking about what you said earlier about this Kyro…"

"If you say so," She said, unconvinced, while trying to focus back on the main subject, "So what do you think, Kthulhu? Got any more bells that are ringin'?"

After putting much though into her description, she is indeed talking about his father. "Well, I do know this Kyro you are talking about."

"Really?" Ryoko beamed, standing up from her chair, hands still on the table, "You know of him personally?"

"You could say, but believe me if I say this, he is not named Kyro de Rodriguez, Ryoko."

She stared at him, confused, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"His name is not Kyro de Rodriguez." He repeated again in a matter-of-fact tone, "His full name is Kyro _Yun Zhao_."

She gets even more confused, "How can you say, K? You really knew him for a long time?" Doubtful, she narrowed her eyes that are starring at Kthulhu, "Or you're just lying to me or something?"

"No, no, I'm not, Ryoko," he then takes a sip from his tea cup. After that, he took out something from his shirt, revealing a beautiful glowing ruby amulet that he wore and hid, "I know his surname's Yun Zhao, because you are talking to his son right now."

This froze and silenced Ryoko, eyes are slowly widening. Both are staring each other for an excruciatingly long ten seconds, and the first word Ryoko said, " _NAANII?!_ " Or in this case, _yelled_ , "You're the son of Kyro-sensei?!"

"Yeah, I am his son," He repeated again, handing over the amulet to Ryoko, "I heard about his job training fighters when my sister and I were still little squids. Surely enough if you know him well, you may have seen this amulet before during his days training you and your team."

Curious, she takes the amulet from him and stares it. With the look on her face, she has definitely seen the amulet before. "Hai, this is one of his amulets… he made one for me and other of my mates as farewell gifts." She then takes another amulet from her pocket that is similar to Kthulhu, but this time, it is made out of glowing sapphire with a dragon surrounding the edge of the gem, "I can't believe that I am talking to his son right now, and that I am friends with Kyla. It's like, you and Kyla are sent by him so that I can remember and cherish the good memories I had with him."

"He really did leave a good mark on you… He would be really proud to see how you've grown…"

"Yeah," She then sat back in silence, and takes a sip of tea. She needs to process all of this, after all, she is now talking to the son of her master that she really respected and loved so much, and she is friends with the sister of that said son that have helped her (Ryoko) so many times more than Ryoko have helped her.

"What an unexpected turn of events…" Ryoko muttered. Kthulhu somehow heard it, and added, "I feel ya."

"I know. We have so much in common," She takes a sip from her tea cup, "And I didn't know he had a son and a daughter. I suspected that he had, but he wouldn't confirm it to us…"

"Yep, he's that secretive…"

"Anyway, now that Kyro-sensei's son is here, I wanna ask you something, something that my other mates and I are asking ourselves for a long time.

"Is he doing alright?"

The question struck him in the heart. Ryoko's expression is so full of hope, that it added more damage to his already scarred heart. He doesn't want her to know what really happened to him, but he doesn't want to lie to her about it. The question froze him completely; his body is stiff like stone, unsure of what to tell her; the cold truth or the white lie.

The atmosphere became tense once again, and once more, the silence swept across the room, making it even tenser than before. Memories are starting to flood back to him, and it is not helping the situation.

"A-are you… really alright, K?" Ryoko worriedly asked. She is not helping either, "You are legit worrying me right now. That face is like something bad happened to sensei."

 _No, not that word…_

"Ok, for real, did something happen to him? Tell me, K!" She demanded.

 _I guess it's now or never… There's no point on hiding on her right now…_

Kthulhu finally opened his mouth, "Do you really want to know, Ryoko?"

"W-what do you I want to know?!" Ryoko yelled in disbelief, "Of course I wanted to know! He's my sensei!"

"Then hear me out and listen…" He then pulls out another amulet from his other pocket. This time it looked like a rectangular emerald gem with elegant steel in the edge, the only difference is its not glowing, unlike the other amulets, "You have seen him wearing this correct?"

Without hesitation she immediately grabs the amulet from his hands, "This… this is his amulet… but… it's not glowing anymore… what happened to it? Why is it not glowing?"

"The amulet is made to detect the life source of the original wearer, no matter what the distance. That's the reason why it is glowing," he explained with a subtly pained voice, "If the wearer of the amulet _died_ , the glow will fade."

Then, realization hits Ryoko hard like a truck, "No, no, no, no… you don't mean…"

"That's right…

"He's **_dead_**..."

Ryoko's face darkened, eyes are widened in extreme shock. Her free hand is covering her mouth in disbelief, and she manages to stifle back a sob. Kthulhu looked down on his feet; guilt has taken over his conscience, as flashbacks are flooding back in his mind.

"How… did he died, Kthulhu?" Ryoko asked painfully, trying to pull back tears.

* * *

 **Location - ?**

 **Time – 21** **st** **of June of the year 2013, 5:41 A.M.**

* * *

 _Kyro's body is slumped on the trunk of his favorite tree, the Katsura, is drenched in fuchsia ink; half of his face, abdomen, chest, and his left arm. There's a hole in the side of his stomach, his own ink bleeding out from the wound, shortening his life span for about a few minutes. His Roller is laid down by the side of the trunk, ink is depleted._

 _The Inkling fought a squad of seven Elite Octolings that are sent to assassinate him. They are no ordinary Elites; they are armed with a special ink that contains cells that prevents body ink regeneration, negating any regenerative capabilities of anyone, and can effectively_ ** _killing_** _them rather than splatting them. Kyro is one of the first victims of the newly made ink._

 _The young Kthulhu is beside his dying father with open, misty eyes, sobbing. He woke up in a bad dream, and decided to calm himself down by drinking water. What he saw as he goes out the room is Octarian ink in the floor, and he immediately knew something wrong happened, and by the time he got out of the door, he saw his father, already dying in his own favorite tree._

"… _M-my son…" The dying father struggled to speak, "Don't cry…" This doesn't help it, and Kthulhu sobbed even more._

" _B-but, father…!" Struggled words also came out of his lips, as tears slides down in his face._

" _I know, I know… freakin' regen-nullifying ink…"_

 _His expression saddened, knowing that his fate has already been sealed. He then looked at the sobbing Kthulhu, and spoke, "I'm s-sorry, I couldn't stay longer to be there for you…_

" _But… you have already grown up a young man, K." Kyro coughed off ink, his life is shortening, "I know you can do this by yourself now; the test that soon will come, the obstacles that will block your path, and the hardships that you will encounter in your life. You have proven to me that you are ready to face the world."_

" _F-father… I… I'm not ready… I-I don't think I'm ready," His son said to him, "I have so much to learn, and I need you father to help me!"_

" _Trust my words, K," With his remaining strength, he then grabbed his personal amulet, which is blinking, holds it with his thumb, ring and index finger, and managed to lift his index and middle finger and tapped at his forehead, "There may be a lot of things you need to learn, but most of the times, you'll have to earn knowledge on your own pace, and on your own accord._

" _And besides, I won't keep myself from training you for too long. You have to prove yourself that all of this training I did is worth the effort and sacrifices you made to make it this far, or else it will be all for nothing. I trust that you listen to my words and understand, so it will be useful in your future journey._

" _Now, please, take my amulet. I want you to keep it, and if you have time, please show it to one of my older pupils that I have trained three years ago, specifically, the Lightning Dragon of the East. She can help you, if you need something for your journey in Inkopolis. This amulet will be useful for you in the future."_

 _With his trembling hands, he took the amulet from his dying father's hand, before it went limp. His father smiles at his son, feeling proud and accomplished._

" _My son…" He coughs off more blood, "I'm glad… that you have made it this far… I'm so proud of what you have accomplished so far. I'm sure your mother and your sister will, too."_

" _F-father…" Kthulhu felt so helpless. He sadly knows that his wounds can never heal; they have reached at its fatal state, and he can't do anything about it._

 _Suddenly, his body is slowly turning to green liquid._

" _K, I have a few final favors for you do. Will you accept?" Young Kthulhu simply nodded, unable to speak anymore through his tears, "Please… find Kyla. She'll help you as well, and tell her that I love her, and tell her I am sorry…"_

 _That is one favor that he doesn't want to make, but since this is for the both of them, he accepted it._

" _I know you will… and K…Know that my amulet will help you through hard times. It has no magical powers, yes, but that amulet will always remind you that I will always be with you, guiding you even if I watch you from above the clouds._

" _And it will always remind you how much I love you… my son… and K… Don't succumb… to your negative emotions…_ ** _fare…well…_**

 _And with his last words, he let out his final breath, accepting his fate, and he completely melted into a puddle of green ink, like an ice melted into water. He now passed away; leaving his clothes, and became one with his favorite tree, the Katsura. His amulet's glow finally faded, can no longer detect his father's life energy._

 _The young Kthulhu miserably watched his father's life melted away in front of his very eyes, his glowing eyes. Despite his words, the young Kthulhu's feelings got the better of him and proceed to punch the cold hard ground repeatedly in grief and anger, whilst screaming in agony as he breaks down over his father's untimely demise. A few punches later, it formed a crack on the spot he repeatedly punches, marking the spot of his father's passing. His fist is bleeding with green ink for all of the punching the ground._

 _A minute later, his eyes are now dried up, and no more tears are left to threaten to escape. He then stands up, glances at the rising sun in the east. He made up his mind; he'll fulfill his father's dying wish, and to train and prepare for everything the world will throw and everything it has to offer to him…_

* * *

 ** _Location – The League's Elite Fighters' HQ_**

 ** _Time – 14_** ** _th_** ** _of March of the year 2014_**

* * *

"That's… how it ended…" Kthulhu finished, "He gave me his final wisdom, his final wishes, and the amulet."

Another silence filled the room again. Ryoko is processing all of the information she heard from Kthulhu, and her lightning blue eyes are getting misty, her eyes are about to give up holding back tears. Kthulhu noticed this, and pulls out a convenient handkerchief from his cycling shorts and hands it over to Ryoko. She immediately recognize the gesture, and took the handkerchief to wipe off the tears that are about to flow off from her eyes.

"T-thanks, Kthulhu…" She said through tears. Kthulhu then stands up from his chair, and he sat at the chair beside the mourning Ryoko. It is time for him to share the grief he felt with the Inkling his father have taught, and gave him the same respect and affection he always give to him.

After all of the tears are wiped, she then puts the handkerchief on the table, and spoke in a sad tone, "He was a great sensei and father, even to us all. He was the light that gives hope and guidance through all the dark times we have thought that we could never get out of. He was so compassionate that all of us would make it to the top one day, and it will symbolize all of the effort and hard work we all had to accomplish it. And now, we are now at the top of the boards in the League, and I'm sure that he'll be very proud…"

"Like I said, he will be…" Kthulhu said, "He's a great man that can see good things hidden inside people."

"Yeah…" She managed to smile. But it didn't last long, and it dissolves quickly, her expression quickly changed, eyes started to water again, "And now… I suddenly… felt hollow… hollow that I now know that… I can never have the chance to see sensei again… my old mates are wishing to see him once more, not knowing that the fact they won't see him again…

"It just… _hurts_ , and fate… it's _not fair_ … it decides what will happen to everyone, and this is what sensei gets? Death by assassination? How is that fair!? Why… why did they have to take his life away without either one of us to see him one last time…?" Tears started to flow down from her eyes, unable to hold it any longer.

He felt her pain, and he immediately understands it. Fate _is_ unfair, and unpredictable; they choose what happens, and nature will do anything to make it happen. They have full control of the future.

Without any better words to say, Kthulhu then wraps his right arm around her shoulders, attempting to comfort her. Even if they only met a few minutes ago, it felt like they already have known each other for a long time, since Kthulhu reminded her of the sensei she always admired. She then grabs the handkerchief and places it on top of Kthulhu's right sleeve, and instinctively, like she has always down with her sensei whenever she is down, she buries her face on the handkerchief that she placed on his shoulder.

Kthulhu did not expect this, but nonetheless, he puts his other arm around her, like a father does to their child when they need comfort. Ryoko didn't mind the gesture, because it already felt like her sensei is comforting her when he was still young and alive in his golden days of teaching them.

And there, the room's atmosphere has dramatically changed into something nostalgic, a feeling Ryoko haven't felt for over three years…

 ** _Fifteen minutes later…_**

"Aww come on! You cheatin' numpy!" A black-skinned Lochian member of the LEF, who is the 6th Elite, cussed, after losing a game of Gran Splaturismo 4 in the Splatstation 4 from the 4th, "Yer' been bumpin' me car for at 'lest five times, you faqin' walloper!"

"Hey, ya' just suck, Aegir!" The 4th retorted back, who won against him in the said game and in the same console, "You'll never win in a race against me, Lochian ale-boy!"

"Screw ye', ya twat!" And the two continue to exchange with each other with stereotypical insults. In the other side, Yeran, her forehead got healed and bandaged, is playing Squid-Box One with Raei, while Zrix is in the middle watching the two play Inks of War 3. They are having fun in the campaign, making them forget about what happened just earlier and just have some fun playing console games in the coach. Verique is just watching over the two players fighting and shouting cusses at alien like creatures, whilst talking to the Yhavin, the 3rd Elite, about some interests about the said squids.

The 2nd, who wears Zekko Hoodie, Sporty Bobbly Hat, and Stripping Whites, somehow took interest on what Yeran and Raei playing and watches them silently as they play. It is said by 3rd to Verique that he is an avid gamer, and will usually watches his peeps playing games in the HQ, or possibly even anywhere in Inkopolis. He also said his skills as a gamer are above average.

The rest of the members except for the 7th, the 9th, and the other said members are like always socializing and watches the cuss fight and race between Aegir and the 3rd, with some are siding either side. They were having fun being kind of immature inside the HQ, having fun and stuff…

…that is, until someone opened the door, making the players pause their game and glances at the door.

It was Ryoko who entered the scene. Her eyes are slightly red, but not to the point that anyone can see it. She is back to her usual self; cool, relaxed, and confident, and she wears a smile that everyone usually sees whenever they see her. She then clears her throat, and speaks, "Alright, sorry for the wait. I've been talking to Kthulhu about some things."

On cue, Kthulhu peeks over the door; his usual deadpan expression is present. Loud cheers from the members erupted immediately as soon he peeked, making him slightly regretted it. _Welp, shite._ Ryoko motions him to go in, and he did, making him regret it more or less, because he got immediately got surrounded by members except for 2nd and 3rd, congratulating him for his victory, some wanted to get a closer look on him, and he slowly got dragged by them into the middle of the living room.

"Don't go rough on him, mates!" Ryoko chuckles as she follows her comrades. Like always, he is frowning because of this attention he gets from the all mighty powerful members of the League. He saw his friends in the coach; Yeran pulling out a thrusts her first into the air while shouting "Whoooo!", Raei flashes a friendly smile, Verique flashes out a grin while fixing his glasses, and Zrix pulls out a thumbs up with his signature grin planted on his face. _Welp… I guess I have to chill for once…_

After Ryoko makes the members disperse off of him, he immediately goes beside his friends in the coach where they play Squid-Box, Ryoko followed suit.

"Inks of War 3, eh?" Kthulhu noticed what they are playing.

"You know this game, K?" Yeran asked, surprised.

"Well, I have played many Squid-Box games in my younger days," Kthulhu sits beside Yeran, "You good now?"

Yeran pulls out a thumbs-up, before continuing the game of Inks of War with Raei.

"So what have you talked about earlier with Miss Ryoko?" Verique asked curiously, "You guys kinda took a little longer 'zhan we expect."

"Sorry about that," Kthulhu answered. He needs to find some plausible answers to give him without giving away what they have actually talked about, and he can't afford more people to know about what happened in his past, "Some familial matters, that all…"

 _Real smooth, K…_ _real smooth…_

He just stared at him, seemingly unconvinced, "Familial matters, you say?"

Before things escalates into the wrong direction too fast, Ryoko steps in, "Don't worry about, mate. I'm just asking some questions about the said topic, and is nothing too important. Got it?"

"Err, ok," Verique shrugged. He is still unconvinced, but decided not to go further through the discussion. He then changes the subject, "So how's life of fame, K?"

 _Crap_ , he signed with a blank expression. Words can't describe how he felt about the attention, because mixed feelings are hard to translate into words when it get too over mixed. "I'll take 'zat as _bad_."

"Come on, Raei, move your shite down!" Yeran shouted, who is getting intensified because of the game.

"I'm trying to, Yeran, and you shouting right at my earholes are not helping me!" Raei shouted back, "There's way too many incoming fire coming at me!"

"Then run through it and get over here!"

"Easy for you to say!"

Ryoko watches in amusement, and can't help but chuckle at the cusses flying everywhere, "Looks like her forehead is in a good shape. Good work, Yhavin."

"No prob, Dragon," he replied with a salute, "The shock is not that power, so you don't have to worry about her getting any kind of concussion."

"Thank cod…"

"Medic, eh?" Kthulhu asked to Yhavin, "You seem to be an expert in healing."

"Yes, Sir Kthulhu-"

"Just Kthulhu is fine."

"Yes, Kthulhu, my mother is a doctor at a well-known hospital in Inkopolis, and she is treated well with respect."

"So you got your medical skills from her…"

"That's about right," Ryoko added, "He's Yhavin Krauss, the 3rd in the League, and one of the best chargers here in Inkopolis. He can multitask in supporting his team and can fight off some squidiots all by himself."

"So he is basically Yeran, just without the one-squid-army part." Kthulhu's comment was replied with a glare from Yeran, who is always annoyed by that fact, but she immediately returned to the game. She muttered, "I wish you just go back talking with hands, you savage takoyaki…"

"Deal with it, lesbian…"

"Shut it, I'm playing."

Kthulhu speaking sure helped him a lot, including talking to his friends, expose someone out, and also delivering very savage one-liners that is just as deadly as his roller skills.

Time has passed, specifically ten minutes of them watching Yeran and Raei play Inks of War 3, while Kthulhu tries his best to remember the game and guide them to complete certain missions, whilst avoiding revealing major spoilers. After what happened, he deserved this kind of rest, but Ryoko thinks it is time to do it, and wasted no more time to call out the other members of the League.

"Alright, I think it's time," Ryoko announced, everyone in the room has their attention on her, "It's time to reveal why Kthulhu is here. Fighters!"

Almost immediately, every member positioned behind her, four from each sides beside Ryoko; from her left in Kthulhus perspective, there's the 6th, 5th, 4th, and Yhavin; from her right, there's the 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th. They lined up like soldiers behind their sergeant, but they act like their normal selves; Yhavin looks carefree and idle, the 2nd looked stoic and bored, and so on, so on. Kthulhu then looks directly at Ryoko's eyes, anticipating. His friends are watching them intently and carefully, waiting.

Ryoko cleared her throat before she continues, "First of all, before I say it, I have to thank Yeran Murchadha, Verique Schneider, and the Squid Sisters, for risking it by broadcasting the Duel. If you haven't done it, we wouldn't be here by now, even if Raei over there spied on them. Have them rewarded before they leave the HQ, Yhavin, ok?"

"I'll take care of that." Yhavin nodded. Yeran and Verique are surprised by the decision of the 1st, and in unison, "Arigatou gozaimasu, Ryoko-sama!"

"Mondai nai."

"Hey, what about me, Ryoko? Forget the good 'ol me, mate?" Zrix asked in such a teasing manner, that everyone can think that he is not serious on what he had said earlier, "I helped in making his weaponry so that he could win." He is serious on that one, though.

"Hmm, I'll think about it," Ryoko then reverted her attention back to the topic at hand, "As I was saying; thanks to them, we League Fighters watched the entire match. Yes, _the entire match_ , which was kinda unpleasant in the first few minutes, but at the second half, it is somehow… satisfying, you kicking Yudius' squidass with tricks and skills that we haven't seen before or haven't seen for a long time. Don't you all agree, Fighters?"

Nods and murmurs of agreement erupted behind her. "It was a pretty great show, but some of us wants to forget about it," Once again, nods and murmurs of agreement intensified, before she continue, "And thanks to that, you have shown us your tremendous skill, your potential, and your determination on that match. So… all of us wanted to know the answer to this question that we are so eager to ask you, and I have a good _inkling_ that you know what I mean."

Aside from the pun she made, Kthulhu knew what she meant.

"The LEF's consists of 10 members, and ten members only, no extras, and no exceptions. But our tenth member has already retired a month ago, because of a disease that took his legs." The other members winced at the memory. Welp, there goes one more unpleasant memory to go through, "We're not too desperate to find another one, mind you, but there will be a Yearly Turf War Tournament in Oceana in the Southwestern Continent in November, and we have signed up for participation. We need another member for that,"

Kthulhu glances back at his friends. Yeran and Verique stared at his direction, who looked like they realize what Ryoko is about to ask. He glanced back at Ryoko, with an excited grin formed on her lips.

"So, Kthulhu, we've been eager to ask you about one thing. Would you like to join the _ **League's Elite Fighters**_ as our **_10th Elite_**?"

He could hear Yeran and Verique gasped. He knew Ryoko is longing to ask him to join the ranks of powerful fighter in the Turf War League, but he doesn't know what to say about it, and he is not sure if he wanted to join or not.

"This is a great opportunity to show your skills to the world of Turf Wars, my friend. We do need a tenth member in the group in honor of the former 10th. Joining us would let you shine as a profreshional Turf War Solo Player, or Team Player! What do you say, Kthulhu, would you like to join us?"

Kthulhu thinks about it for a moment. It is a good opportunity to show off some skills… if he wanted to, that is. He's not the kind of squid to show off such skills in Turf War matches, because it will give some unwanted attention, and he doesn't need nor want one. He doesn't seek any kind of popularity; neither has he sought a high rank. He has other things to do than seeking those kinds of common goals, and he wants to focus on that before other things.

He then glances back at his friends. Yeran and Verique are getting ecstatic, mouthing the word "yes" over and over, and Zrix and Raei looked at him expectantly, waiting for his answer. Since this is a very rare thing that would happen in Inkopolis; the LEF invitation to join them, they are expecting that Kthulhu would accept the invitation. He then glances back at the LEF.

Like his friends, they are also expectant, eager for Kthulhu to join them in their powerful ranks. Eyes are on him right now, waiting and anticipating for the answer that they have been waiting for.

 _I guess it's time to answer…_ He then opened his mouth to speak, telling them his answer that they have been waiting for.

* * *

 ** _A/U –_** _Whoop! Whoop! That's the end of the Chapter and for the main conflicting that has been going on for the last couple of chapters! Yudius and Terof has been banned from Turf Warring, Kthulhu has gained a friend named Raei, who is the black squid from Yudius' team, spying them, and Ryoko's disciple, the 1st Elite of the LEF, and we get to learn some of Kthulhu's backstory and the fate of his father._

 _Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I have to, because you'll know soon in the next chapter, which is the bonus chapter, and it will sum up what happened after the Duel, some minor events that happened before it, and it will give a little preview of what will be the next **story** after this._

 _If you enjoy the story, be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think of it, and if there's anything that I can improve besides grammar errors. Also if you enjoy, press that heart button to show that you like the story, and I'll see you all in the bonus chapter, and in the next story!_


	7. Bonus Chapter

_**Author's Note:**_ _Welcome everyone to the Bonus chapter, where I will showcase some of the moments that have happened before and after the Duel (aka some bad shitfics that I was having fun writing), as well as some things that I will make clear before we move onto the next few fics, like some terms that I have used in this fic, and some facts._

 _And thank you, reader, for reading the fic this far. Enjoy the bonus chapter! :D_

* * *

Bonus Chapter

* * *

 _ **Moment #1**_ _ **– Hopeless Heart**_

* * *

Kthulhu's 2nd match with Verique and Yeran for the day has begun… and it's not going well…

The map is in Urchin Underpass; his team color is Pink, while the other is in Cyan. The opponent team, which has two very skilled players in there, is dominating; their ink covered the center of the stage, and a quarter of their area. He's using the vanilla Blaster, and it's not really helping a whole lot. He didn't have as much splats as he usually has in almost every match he played in.

One of those players are a fair skinned Inkling Girl that has beautiful light green eyes, and has a unique tentacle hairstyle; one wavy tentacle in the front that is comb over to the left, making her look like an elegant, and a very attractive model. She wears no headgear, assuming she wears Fake Contacts, a slightly smaller Away B-Ball Jersey that perfectly shows her curvy hips, and Crazy Arrows. She uses a .52 Gal.

A fast and detailed description? Perfect model-like body, good jawline, and her small nose matches her beautiful face. That clothing showed a lot of her skin in the sexiest way possible.

Even Yeran agrees with it… in a different sort of way, though… which can be a problem if left unchecked…

He splatted the skilled player many times, but she still dominates with her ink score and splats. She is very agile, doing graceful front and backflips, and a force to be reckoned with when she is with her team, even to Kthulhu, so he became a little more cautious than he is usually. Unfortunately, being cautious more didn't help a lot when you're fighting a powerful team in the other side. This frustrated Verique, and he is trying to come up with a plan before the enemy team get near the spawn. They have recently got their area back from them, and now are struggling to regain the center.

"Alright, listen up, " Verique, still wearing the same gear except he now wears a white shirt, yelled in frustration, "We're losing ground, and if 'zey return, 'zey might retake back 'zis area with ease. You, with 'ze Custom Hydra Splatling, go full one defensive, and fend off any incoming attackers 'zat are trying to retake our area. Doesn't matter if you splat 'zem, just shoo 'zem off is enough. Yeran, you help 'ze Hydra boy, while me and Kthulhu will take 'ze offense and flank 'ze attackers. Got it?"

The Hydra Splatling Boy nodded, and went into position. Verique then looked at Yeran, who now wears a CoroCoro Hoodie, who is staring at a distance, "You got it, Yeran?" Yeran didn't respond, "Yeran?" Still no response, "'Ze crab, you lagging or something?" A second later, her face lights up pink, and her nose bled out an ink drop.

Surprised and confused, Kthulhu waves his free hand in front of her face; no response still. He then looked at the direction she is looking at. What he saw is the skilled inkling that I, the narrator, just described. Realization hits him, and he immediately tried to wake her up in her trance.

…by betch-slapping her in the face…

 _SMACK!_

He slapped her so hard the ink dripping down from her nose flew off straight to the right and almost knocked her goggles off, completely waking her up in her trance.

"Ow!" She yelped, as she fixes her goggles, "Geez, Kthulhu, did you have to slap me that hard?!"

 _You're staring at a girl,_ He signed, _Have to slap to wake you up_.

She blushed harder and gets flustered, and lets out a Lochian curse. Before she even get to say anything else, Verique, his palm is planted onto his face, said, "'Zere it goes again. Now, help our Hydra bro over 'zere defend. We'll take care of 'zat squid you are ogling at last few seconds ago."

"W-w-wait what?! I-I'm not-" Before she can finish, he is off to the right side of the stage to flank, "Shet!"

Before Kthulhu follows him, he signed something that will always annoy her for eternity; he lightly tapped his chin with his thumb and index finger, meaning, _Gay_ , and he immediately swam away. Her face lights up in anger, and yelled, "You better shut up about it, you takoyaki!" She huffs and goes to the Hydro Boy to assist on defending.

* * *

 _A match later…_

 _ **Pink – 45.9%**_

 _ **Cyan – 34%**_

* * *

The Hydra Splatling is panting in exhaustion, like he never had this match in his entire career. Kthulhu is in the other corner leaning against the wall, resting for a bit. Yeran's Charger was sling back, wiping sweat from her forehead. Verique is stretching, his liquid bones are aching because of all the action he got into got him exhausted.

"We still kinda won…" Said Yeran, then sighs in relief, as she takes off her goggles and lets it hanging by her neck, "But that match was a nightmare…"

"Yeah, 'zat one squid girl sure can play 'vwith 'zose hips and flips…" Verique remarked. After all of that action with the skilled players in the enemy team, he decided to just rest for a few minutes. He then looks at Yeran with a displeased look.

"W-what?"

"You better get over 'ze habit of getting dreamy 'ven you see a random hot chick in a match, for once…"

Once again, this flusters her so much, showing her gay side once again, "W-what are you talking about?! I-it's not I'm gawking at someone or anything…"

"Yeah, sure, she's just right behind you," This made her face light up with pink color even more, as she slowly turns her back. He is not wrong, she _is_ right freakin' there, standing attractively with her right hand on her hips. She has a smile on her face; a cheerful smile that almost matches Yeran's, which can make even squid girls **wet** _and_ _ **ink**_ themselves _figuratively_ and possibly _literally_. Yeran is one of those girls, making her gay side show at its fullest potential.

She waved at her, which made her even _**wetter**_ than ever, "Bonjour!" Her accent makes her even more _**we**_ \- ok, I'll stop with the wet pun, it might get annoyingly sexual. Let's have a different phrase for this one, one that is not too sexually arousing, and not too punny. Her sexy Seinen accent lights Yeran even brighter, and her heartbeat so loud Kthulhu can hear it, "You're that sniper in the other team, right?"

"Y-y-y-y-yeah, I-I am…" Yeran stuttered, miserably flustered and a blushing mess. Kthulhu doesn't know why, but seeing this side of Yeran sure is amusing as well as cute, and he'll love to tease her, "W-w-why d-do you ask?"

"Oh, it's nothing to special, it's just I'm here to say that you're amazing this match!" This surprised Yeran, and also confuses her as well.

This made Verique whistle, then lightly elbowed Kthulhu, "Tell you 'vhat, she's not 'vhong… she got like, twelve splats, most of 'zem are from 'zeir top player…" Welp, he's not wrong either. She is getting those splats like a boss that match, but, hoo boy, she became a blushing mess and a wuss whenever that attractive squid is on sight.

"W-what did I-I do to get such p-praise?" Yeran asked.

" _Oh cher_ , you're face looks like a mess, dear," She let out a cute chuckle at the sight of a flustered Yeran. This lights her face up even more, and she puts on her hoodie to hide her face in embarrassment, "Oh come on, my dear, you don't need to hide that cute face of yours!" Well… I, the narrarator, don't think her face could get any brighter, while the attractive squid takes off her hoodie, showing her blush-ridden face, "There, much better!"

Yeran suddenly became speechless, and scratches the back of her head bashfully.

"And oh, how rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself to you yet," She then extends her left arm, offering a handshake, "I'm Eicarin 'Chelfinn, but my friends call Eica."

She hesitated, but eventually, she took her hand and shook it, albeit awkwardly, but Eica doesn't seem to be bothered, "Y-Yeran, Yeran Murchadha." This lightens Eica up even more, and excitedly started to explain to her why she got such praise, which the author, the editor and the narrator is too lazy to put it in.

While she does her thing, Kthulhu tapped Verique's shoulder. "Yes, K?" Verique glances at him. Kthulhu points at Verique and then at him, then presses his chin like he did back at the match. He then points at Yeran, who is listening to Eica. Verique has seen that sign before, and he immediately understands him, "I gotcha, K," Kthulhu then nodded, and they looked back at the two female inklings.

"He was the best charger in our team, but you manage to destroy him by out-scoring his splat count and ink score!" The attractive squid said excitedly, "He even admits that you play like an S Ranked player!"

"Ermm, m-many of my friends have said that to me…" The blushing lesbian said. Well, Verique did say that once to Kthulhu, during his first match with him and Yeran, "Even if my rank is still at B."

"Ah, nonsense, rank doesn't matter when we talk about skill! There are a lot of C- Ranked squids who can destroy S Ranked players, y'know?"

"Smurfs…" _She's not wrong…_

"Mostly smurfs, but not all of them, really, most of them are just that good." _She's not wrong either…_ "You should be proud of yourself, Yeran."

"I-I guess I should…"

"You guess?" She then puts her right arm around shoulders, and I, the narrator, shall say it again again, her face couldn't get any brighter. Damn, her touch might've siphoned all her willpower, because she looked like she's gonna faint in any second now, "Come on, put some self-esteem and confidence like what happened in the match! You deserve the compliment you get, dear!"

She can't even speak a word for a few words, but soon she was able to let out some words that she can only manage without stuttering, "Then, thanks, Eica. It's not that I don't appreciate it, it's j-just… u-unexpected…" Well, at least she has some of her willpower left in her to speak, or she would've fainted before she can even open her mouth.

Heh, let's just say that she can't handle the _**heat**_. * _wink wink_ *

"No problem, Yeran, and it's been fun having turf wars with you," She then pulls her arm off of her shoulders, saving Yeran from fainting anytime soon. Eica then fishes out her phone from her cycling shorts, "How about we exchange numbers, Yeran? Maybe we can hang out sometimes! I'm free in Mondays."

Yeran immediately takes out her phone, "It's a date then-" She immediately stopped, realizing what she had said. Whoops…

She just stared at Yeran, with a surprised look on her face, but as fast as Yeran ever took out her phone, she chuckled, making Yeran hide her face again from her hoodie, "N-no, don't fret, my dear!" She said through fits of chuckles, probably amused, "If you want to call it that way, then sure, why not? I don't mind."

Yeran immediately takes off her hoodie, her eyes are shining, "Is-is it alright with you?" In which Eica nodded with a soft smile. Her blush is slowly fading, and she got the same infectiously cheerful smile she always wore back, "Then Monday it is!" And there she exchanged numbers with her.

"Oh, I have to go!" Eica puts her phone back to the pockets of her cycling shorts, "I have to help out a friend of mine in the shop." She then turns around to leave into the lobby and hot _freakin'_ _**dayum**_ , she has one heck of a big and curvy booty, and, man, that skin tight cycling shorts (literally skin tight) tremendously helps on showing that said booty perfectly. _Hoo boy, no wonder why Yeran is gawking at her earlier_ , Kthulhu thought.

( **Editor's Note** : The author is not ashamed on including this part, and it is too good to not put it in, so I and the narrator agreed to not alter anything in the last paragraph.)

Eica then glances over her shoulder and waved goodbye at her new date- er friend, "I'll see you soon, Yeran! Have a good turfing!" She then walks away, hips are shaking along the way, making it safe for Yeran to nose bleed since her back if facing her, and dreamily stares at her, not just at a certain part of her body she's staring at.

And that's Verique and Kthulhu's cue. They approached the dreamy Yeran, and Verique asked in the most flamboyant way possible, "She has a smexy bootay, don't ya' agree?"

"Yeah, she's has a very smexy boo-" she instantly halts as Verique freed her from her trance. Frowning, she immediately turned around, just to see her two friends have their thumb and index fingers in their chin, with Verique's very mischievous and teasing smile, and Kthulhu's very goofy blank expression plastered across his face. This made her face light up pink again, and this time, it isn't just because she is flustered.

" _Ha, gaaaaay,"_ Yeran, very angry and out for blood(or ink?), immediately chased after Verique, still doing the expression and hand gesture while running away from the angry lesbian. Kthulhu just stood there; hands are now on his cycling short pockets with the goofy blank expression still on his face, watching the two close friends chasing each other, whilst Yeran is screaming Lochian cusses at him.

As soon as Kthulhu is on her sights, he did the same hand gesture he did with Verique, and hilarity ensues as he got instantly caught into their game of Cat and Mouse.

* * *

 _ **Moment #2**_ _ **– Loser No Moe**_

* * *

The Three Masquidteers, after their 4th victory, since they got enough money to spend on gear or weapons, they went to Cooler Heads, the Headgear shop in Inkopolis, to try out some other hats or any headgear. As they went in, they were immediately got bombarded by Moe, the talking clownfish that is residing in Annie's coral-like hair, with insults.

"OH, YOU UN-FRESH LOSERS AGAIN!" The clownfish said, throwing a lot of trash from his tiny mouth, "COME BACK WHEN YOU ARE FRE-"

"S-shut it, M-Moe," Annie, the owner, stuttered, "D-don't be rude t-to our customers!"

"WHATEVER…"

"He's just annoying as ever…" Yeran muttered a complaint, "It'll be satisfying to just throw him on the wall…"

"I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU INK SAC!"

"SHUT UP, SQUIRT!" Yeran retorted back at the clownfish.

"Alright, you two, stop!" Verique attempted to stop the two on throwing insults at each other before things could escalate in a dangerously exponential rate, "Yeran, we've already been through 'zis, we are here to **Buy**. _**Freaking**_. _**HATS**_! Not to show of your language with a stupid clownfish."

"HOW ABOUT YOU CALL YOURSELF-"

"Shut up, Moe, not talking to you," He abruptly interrupted him, and faces Yeran, "Let's get 'zis over 'vwith. Find 'vhatever headgear you 'vwant, before you go nuts on 'zat clownfish."

"Will you allow me to-"

" _Nein_."

Yeran huffs, as she browses through the store to buy a new gear. Verique then faces Kthulhu, and asks, "Do you have anything to buy, K?" Kthulhu shakes his head, having no plans to replace his current headgear, which he is satisfied using, "Alright, 'zen watch over Yeran, because a few more insults flew into her, and she'll rip 'zat clownfish's scales faster 'zan he could ever talk trash."

He nodded, and Verique left to find a headgear.

Yeran has a deep grudge against Moe Loser, because he primarily just trash talks a lot of squids, and Yeran is one of the squids that can't take insults lightly. According to the words he always hear from her, she is basically born from Loche, and Lochians are pretty much known for their good ale, their friendliness to each other even to Octarians, and mostly, their cuss words and other insults which either can be very harsh depending on the choice and use of those words.

According to Verique, every time she is goes into the shop, she always fights Moe's trash with more trash, and it always results in Moe getting his some of his scales ripped off of him, and some minor black eyes.

The thing is, when a random clownfish just keeps trash talking to someone even when given a warning doesn't really help him on containing Yeran's anger, and she's visibly shaking in anger, who is about to lunge on Moe's face with blood/inklust, whatever you wanna call it.

This is not going well; Kthulhu must act quickly before things escalate badly. This is where he made a very bad decision; by going in front of the line of fire of Moe, trying to redirect his words to himself. He did it before he realized it was a big mistake…

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LOSER?" Moe's momentum on throwing trash out of his gaping mouth goes to Kthulhu, "YOU'RE GONNA COMPLAIN ON YOU BEING SO UN-FRESH, EH?!"

No respond from Kthulhu; he's just standing in front of Annie while facing Moe with a blank expression, which is still unmoved.

"… AREN'T YOU GONNA SPEAK, SCRUB?!" Moe continues. Still no response from Kthulhu.

Moe is getting annoyed, "WHY AREN'T YOU SPEAKING!? ARE YOU DEAF OR SOMETHING OR ARE YOU JUST TOO STUPID TO REALIZE THAT YOU'RE AN UNFRESH LOSER!?"

Still no response. Damn, he has balls of steel to face his insults and face of mountains for keeping a straight face while enduring his every trash he throws at him. While Moe continues his barrage of insults at Kthulhu, Yeran and Verique, thanks to Kthulhu, have finally found the headgear they are looking for.

"FOR FISH SAKES, YOU'RE JUST LIKE THAT ANOTHER STUPID LOSER, KY-"

He finally got responded.

 _WHOOSH!_

…by the floor…

 _SLAM!_

Kthulhu very abruptly interrupted Moe by grabbing him in lightning speed, didn't even letting him nor the others to react when he suddenly make Moe kiss the floor by throwing him on the ground so hard he felt like every bone on his small fish body broke… figuratively speaking… before Moe even realize is on the floor, every bones aching in his body.

Annie reacted in shock once she saw Moe, lying in the floor, convulsing like a fish out of water, kinda literally speaking. Verique's eyes are widened, and Yeran's mouth is wide agape.

What's shocking is how unmoved Kthulhu looked; his facial expression is still blank like paper, his whole body, except for his right arm to use to grab and pound Moe into the floor, didn't move an inch, _literally_.

" _OOOOOOOOOOHHH!"_ Yeran, being Yeran, couldn't contain it, and decides to shout at Moe at the top of her lungs, near him, and both her open hands pointing at Moe, " _GET FAQIN' REKT, YOU SQUIRTY LITTLE SHET! THAT'S WHAT YOU DESERVE!"_

Verique, annoyed by her antics, back slapped Yeran in the back of the head, "Would you keep it down, Yeran!?"

Kthulhu then takes out two bags of gold coins, and gives it to the shocked Annie, while fishing out his phone and typed and showed her, _Here, his medical fees. And sorry, I need to take out the trash he puts into his mouth._

He then immediately turned to leave the shop, along Verique trying to drag a cussing Yeran out of the shop.

It _was_ a big mistake…

…to not grab the fishy shet and threw him to the ground.

* * *

 _ **Moment #3**_ _ **– Splat Hard**_

* * *

It was all good and fun, playing games in the League HQ… until Yeran pulled a Yeran move and everything went to shet, hilarity and confusion ensues…

Raei, Kthulhu, Zrix, and Yeran are playing a game of Splatrun, an obstacle course where players has to get through traps with only three lives, while Death, the one who operates traps, will try to splat the players by using various traps with various effects. If a player loses all three lives, that player will join Death.

"Woah!" Yeran and Verique yelled as they fell from a platform trap, dragging Raei with them. The room was filled with laughter as the other member so the League, specifically Ryoko, the 2nd, Yhavin, Aegir, and the 4th watches the chaos unfold in the trap.

"Shet! One more freakin' life," Raei cussed.

"Faqin, we all died, thanks Verique," Yeran said, annoyed as she is now down to one life.

"Holeh shet, that was like Splat Hard," Ryoko said, referencing the movie 'Splat Hard' that has been Box Office Hit in the whole continent.

"Totally like 'Splat Hard'" Verique sarcastically said.

"It's exactly like 'Splat Hard', y'know how the explosion happened at the bottom of the elevator?"

"Was Ink Cruise there?" Yeran suddenly asked, "I'm pretty sure I saw Ink Cruise."

"No, Ink Cruise is not on Splat Hard." Kthulhu answered flatly. He has seen that movie, and Kthulhu is _pretty_ sure Ink Cruise is not in there.

"What?! Ink Cruise is in Splat Hard!" Yeran reasoned, who is already defeated before she even started.

"No, he is not." Verique retorted.

"No, he's freakin' not…" Raei said in unison with Verique, who is much more annoyed by the fact that Yeran said that Ink Cruise was in Splat Hard, because it is one of his favourite movies.

Ryoko and Aegir bursts out of laughter, while Yeran is so conflicted and confused, "What…? He's not?"

"He's not, Yeran, geez!" Verique yelled with his hands are clutching on both side of his head, really annoyed.

"He's not on Splat Hard, lass," Aegir added, "He is nevah' part on 'dat moveh."

Yeran is really, really confused, and very, very conflicted, "I-I was pretty sure Ink Cruise… eh, are you sure?" While on the background, Raei cusses after he fell from a small, circular platform

"Yes!" Ryoko answered through her laughter, "I'm a 100% sure, Yeran."

"Ahh, faq." Ryoko and Verique burst into fits of laugher, making her feel embarrassed about the whole thing, "Geez, I gotta watch Splat Hard now."

"Heh, you really do!" Ryoko can't contain her amusement of the confused Yeran. She then saw her facial expression, her laughter immediately died down along with Verique's, and told her, "Just so you are not embarrassed if a conversation about Splat Hard…" She then notice that Yeran's head looked up a bit, it's like she is seeing stuff.

"Right, and so what?"

"What are ya' lookin at?"

"I dunno, I'm just thinking…" She then looked at her friends, while trying to go back to the topic and asked again, "Was Ink Cruise really not in that movie?"

"He really was not in the cod damn movie, ye' woomy." Raei answered, while he goes up to the platform where the Deaths are stationed with the traps.

Ryoko couldn't contain her chuckle, "Haha, why is that so hard to understand?"

"I dunno, it just seemed like an action movie, he's probably an extra-" Yeran tried to reason once more, until Verique pulled a Kthulhu moved and rudely cuts her off by saying, "Ink freakin' Cruise is not in every freakin' action movie, Yeran!"

"That's like saying Vink Diesel is in every race car movie ever made." Raei added.

"But he likes racing movies," Yeran said. Fits of laughter came out from the players and some of the League members who are watching except for 2nd, even Kthulhu let out a small chuckle at Yeran's lack of knowledge of the move Splat Hard, and belief of Ink Cruise is in every action movie ever made.

"You're a freakin' squidiot, Yeran," Verique bluntly said, "Like a 100% squidiot." Yeran couldn't help but laugh it off.

Five seconds later…

"Live Free, and Die another Day, starring Ink Cruise," Raei started, referencing to another one of his favourite movies.

Zrix then started, "Live Free, and-"

…then Raei followed up, "Live Free, in Mission Inkpossible 3."

"Live Free, in Top Gun."

"Hehehe, Live Free, Impossible Top Gun 3-"

"-Cruise." Ryoko finished.

"Top Gun 3 Cruise, heheh, Ink Cruise's name's in the title,"

"Hah, Splat Hard 2 I am Legend." Aegir added another movie reference, which sends Verique, Zrix, Raei, and Yeran into a fits of chuckles.

"Well, that's enough talking about movies," Yeran said, so that she could be saved for any further embarrassment, "I'll make sure I watch Splat Hard later when I go home."

"You really, really freakin' should, geez that's a pretty sick movie," Raei added, and immediately got rekt by a deadly bouncing ball, "… crap…"

"Well, looks like I have something to add in my trait list other than you being gay-" Kthulhu is about to say until he got hit in the side of his head by a controller.

"Shut up, you takoyaki. And please give me back my controller; we're not done here yet."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _Get the ref, mates?_

 _If you don't then better go to Youtube, and search ' **Vanoss Gmod Deathrun Gotcha Bitch** ' and you'll get the reference in this moment and you'll be roflmao-ing for hours. This version is not really as funny or not even that funny than the original scene, but I hope you enjoy this shitfic and also enjoy that video I mentioned. :D_

* * *

 _ **Moment #4**_ _ **– The Aftermath**_

* * *

What a day…

During the afternoon, Kthulhu, for the first time, invited Raei, Verique, and Yeran to lunch, his treat. He was about tto invite Zrix as well, but he left because his shift in Ammo Knights is about to start. They got their gold bags that is worth like… a lot, let's just say, according to the heavy weight of the bags they are carrying. It is because Anthur texted him, saying that he'll meet him in Cephalon Haven, where he met Anthur and his fiancé Leili before the Duel.

They all told their stories during lunch about the Duel, before and after it. Kthulhu then told them about his decision to temporarily retire from Turf Warring, because he needs to ease up his mind after all what during and after the match. All of those are bad memories, and he rather doesn't want to talk about it, but Anthur deserved to know about it, and told the whole story. Anthur is grateful to know, and will support his decision to leave turf warring for the time being, with his friends respecting his decision. After all, he deserved a vacation.

Lunch is over, and Anthur said his thanks and goodbyes, and went back to Eelectric Wailers to work and clean up the mess Yudius have left. After they left, Yeran suggested to visit the Squid Sisters in their studio because they invited him and friends, telling the guards to give them permission to go into their private room, in which they can hide themselves from the public eye to have discussion with their trusted friends.

Let's just say, Kthulhu's time there is a blushing mess…

Even when Kthulu have politely rejected the two sisters by saying or texting his not available, their crush for Kthulhu is still there, evident by them blushing, stuttering, and other things. He doesn't seem to be bothered by it; in fact, he is amused, in a good way, that is. Nonetheless, the sisters congratulated his victory, and they let him and his friends stay for a while, chatting and having a good time… at least, that's what he felt it is going on…

They also said that because of the Killer Wail's destructive sound waves that are emitted throughout Inkopolis, the Officials decided to suspend Turf War Matches in Inkopolis, because it is reported that other stages like Camp Triggerfish, Flounder Heights, and Saltsray Rig got affected by the blast of the loud sound waves. It was either a good thing or a bad thing.

After that, they left the studio with a good note. Before they part ways, Verique asked Raei where he would go now, after he left Yudius' gang, and now he is not part of any group at the moment. Raei said that he might be going back to going solo, since there are no teams that are eligible for him to stay.

Verique begs to differ, and he told him to exchange numbers with him. They did, and Verique immediately invited him into "The Masquidteers" group chat. Raei accepted it, and asked what that means, who seems to be confused. Verique said that invitation to the group means, it is time to form a team for Ranked, called with the same name as the group chat, with Kthulhu is voted as the Team Captain.

He is surprised, and probably overjoyed, because he finally felt that he belong to a team, a team of good people that even if he is a former enemy and member of Yudius' Gang, they forgave him for it, and finally accepted him into the team. The team had a joyful group in the center of the plaza, marking the forming of The Masquidteers.

Since Turf Warring is suspended for the day to repair the damage the Duel has done, the newly-formed Masquidteers parted early, with Raei, Yeran, and Verique hangs out somewhere from the other parts of the city, while Kthulhu went back to Ammo Knights early. As soon as he enter, he is met with cheering customers, and also an overly-excited Sheldon, who also congratulated his victory over Yudius. He then returns the Tinkered Dynamo that he used to fight Yudius back to Sheldon, but he (Sheldon) insisted to keep the roller, considering it as a reward from him. He goes back to his basement and stored the roller to his weapons cabinet, and he immediately flopped into his bed face first, taking a well-deserved long nap. He woke three hours later to help out Sheldon in the shop, and Zrix to help out testing weapons he modified.

He then thinks about the offer Ryoko gave him in League HQ. He learned that to be part of the LEF, he needs to be Level 25 and up, and needs to be at Rank A, and no exceptions. You could've seen their faces when they have learned that he is still level 13, and haven't played a single rank match yet; they were so shocked. He answered that he doesn't know yet, because he is still has something else to do in Inkopolis, which he deemed is much more important than to pursue the Ranks, and be part of the League as a profreshional player and battle in Tournaments all around the world.

If he answered, he would've said no, because it would restrict his free time and it would constrict him from finishing a certain goal he is dedicated to reach. What he means by that is unclear at this moment, but he would talk about it when the right time comes.

 _Evening… 8:12PM, at the Ammo Knights Basement…_

Kthulhu couldn't sleep properly…

He is looking through the Masquidteer's group chat, with his glowing eyes present, which is still consists of random chatters from the members. The Squid Sisters are still in the group chat, and said that they don't have any plans to leave the group, much to the excitement of Yeran. They also welcomed Raei, who he named himself in the chat **DrDraei** to the group as well, while they talk about what is happening to them during Kthulhu's uneventful afternoon.

Their conversation is basically phasing through random topics at a very fast scale, from random chatter, to the trends in Squitter (which mainly consists of tweets about the Duel), to random chatter, trends in Inkstagram (same as Squitter), to random chatter again, and so on, so on. But after 8:00PM, it's just random chatter the girls, with Raei and Verique are offline, maybe doing other things, or they hit the sack early.

Kthulhu then puts his phone back to the desk beside the table, he adjusted his body in the soft bed sheets, facing the dark ceiling, and his right arm is resting against his forehead. He can't sleep; his mind is full of thoughts, almost all about his sister, Kyla. He is wondering how she is doing right now in his hometown, which doesn't help him sleep at all. He kept thinking, and thinking, and thinking, what it felt like eternity.

It worries him; it worries him how would she felt after she sees him again, after leaving without saying goodbye, leaving with no trace, leaving with no inkling of where he is, or what is he doing. It hurts his heart to think about, leaving such a sweet little sister alone.

Now…he'll meet her again after two years… and he dread of how she would feel about it.

He shook his head, trying to shrug it off. _There's no point think about it now… she's not here yet. She's still back home…_ There is still time for him to emotionally rest, as this will take toll on him if he continued to think about in the next few days. Extremely tired, he takes a pillow and places it on his face, closed his glowing eyes.

 _After all, I still have a goal to finish..._

* * *

 _ **A/N –**_ _Hello! That's all for the moments that have happened that are not formally written in the main chapters of the Duel, and finally fleshed out some of my characters' personality! (particularly Yeran) And now, it's time for some random facts that I will throw in, because why the heck not._

* * *

 _.:_ _ **Trivia:.**_

* * *

-I wasn't about to make Kthulhu speak in this fic, and I planned him to speak in the other fics that I am making in the future, but I decided to do it early on, so that I can have fun writing his blunt personality and to help tell his past, some thoughts, and maybe deliver some sick one-liners he has stored.

-Like a guest said in their review, Zrix came from a character named sans from the game _**Undertale**_ , by his choice of clothing and personality, and his love of bad puns, except he's not a skeleton in this story without the bone powers and whatnot. Although he is inspired by that character, he is a different character altogether, and has no other major similarities with sans.

-Cephalon Haven was inspired by _**Café Cardamari**_ , a fan-made café and a blog of _**Tamarinfrog**_ on tumblr, who makes great comics and other Splatoon-related fic, as well as other Nintendo stuff, and the name of the café came into my mind because of the name of " _ **Cephalon HQ**_ " in the Single Player Campaign, because I thought it was related to squids and/or octopi.

-Took a like a weekdays to finish the manuscript of the two parts of the Duel when I was still in school, took at least three weekends to make the final product. It was well worth it, lol.

-Kthulhu's last name, _**Yun Zhao**_ , is based off from general from the Chinese history of the Dynasty.

* * *

 _ **.:Nationalities/Countries mentioned in the Story:.**_

* * *

 _You have seen some terms that I used in the story to determine the nationalities of characters._

 _ **Lapunia**_ _–_ A country in the Southeast Region, and the home country of _**Kthulhu**_ , _**Leili**_ , _**Anthur**_ , and _**Kyla**_. It is the Splatoon incarnation of the _**Philippines**_ , and the name came from a fish species named _**Grouper**_ , in which in the Philippines it is called _**Lapu-Lapu**_ , hence, the name. Natives, Citizens, and Language there are called _**Lapunians**_.

 _ **Iberia**_ _–_ A country in the Southwest Region, and the home country of _**Raei**_. It is based on the _**Iberian Peninsula**_ , and it is the Splatoon incarnation of _**Portugal**_ and _**Mexico**_. Natives, Citizens, and Language there are called _**Iberians**_.

 _ **Loch**_ _–_ A country in the Northwest Region, and the home of the Aegir, a member of the LEF and the 4th, and Yeran. The name is based off from the _**Loch Ness Lake**_ from **Scotland** , and it is basically the combined country of _**Ireland**_ and _**Scotland**_. Natives, Citizens, and Language there are called _**Lochians**_ , _**Lochins**_ or _**Lochish**_.

 _ **Seine**_ _–_ A country somewhere in the Northeast Region, and the home of Eica. It is based off from the famous river of _**the same name**_ , and it's the Splatoon incarnation of _**France**_. Natives, Citizens, and Language there are called _**Seinens**_.

 _That's it! This story has gone so far, and now I have finished it. Thank you for anyone who enjoyed the story! I have been working hard on this ever since it's started, even if I stopped updating the story for at least a few weeks after the release of the second chapter because of school, I'm still making this story by using pen and paper, so that I can easily plan out the next thing that I would write._

 _Again, thanks for reading_ _ **Splatoon – Duel**_ _, I had so much fun writing this one, and there will be a sequel of this story that I have planned to release in the next few days! I won't say the name of it yet, I will reveal it once it's released. I will put a link in this bonus chapter after I finished released it._

 _Again for the third time, thanks for reading, and I'll see you soon in the next story!_

* * *

 **(x)(X)(x)**

* * *

 _ **Moment #5**_ _ **– Family**_

* * *

 **(x)(X)(x)**

* * *

 _ **Location**_ _ **– At a small town in Karaga, Lapunia**_

 _ **Time**_ _ **– March 14**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 2014, 3:23PM**_

* * *

Its afternoon…

I was helping out my cousins, Tarã and Serõ carry out the boxes to the workshop their father is working in. The boxes we carried contain parts and tools to repair a broken car that has assigned to him to repair it. The damage in the car is not that big, the engine is just busted, and so a few parts of the vehicle are enough to fix it.

Serõ and Tarã's father, Gyro, whom I call as Ninong Gyro, is a mechanic, engineer, tinkerer, and an inventor, as well my father's brother. He is well-built, and tall adult Inkling that has a long, and tied down blue tentacle hair with orange tips, has a well-trimmed beard, and very thick eyebrows. He wore a brown cap that is stained with oil, goggles, black overalls, a long white shirt stained with oil and dirt, and gloves, which he uses as his work outfit.

He was sitting on a chair that is near the workbench, waiting for us, "Ahh, the parts I need for the car," He said in a slightly thick accent that is usually heard here in Lapunia, "Gracias! Now I can finish the repairs, and get this over with. Put the boxes on the workbench, while I go open the hood."

We put the boxes in the workbench, which is filled with tools, and equipment. The boxes are not that heavy, but Tarã and Serõ seems to be having difficulty lifting it up to the workbench, "Dios miyo, these boxes are heavy!" complained by an Inkling with blue long Tentacle hair with purple tips. Her tentacle hair in the back of her head is beautifully braided, and she has nice and unique bangs that are kinda awkward to describe. She wears a Squid Hairclip, small black tee, cycling shorts, and blue flip-flops. She is Tara, one of my close cousins.

"Is it really that heavy. 'cuz?" I asked her, then I opened the box to see its contents; some scrap parts, and some parts that is needed to repair an engine, "By the looks of the parts inside this box, it doesn't seem to be that heavy."

"Well, good for you, because I am not that strong, ok?" Tarã then sits on the chair her father used to sit earlier, "I can't even lift an engine without much difficulty."

My other cousin puts down the box he is carrying. He is Serõ, an Inkling with five orange spikey tentacle hair in the front and a tied-up pony tentacle hair in the back, with green tips in each piece of his spikey tentacle hair. He wears a mesh cap, a dark blue tee, long b-ball shorts with green stripes in each sides, and green Inklander Flip-flops. Like Tarã, he is also one of my close cousins, and he is Tarã's brother.

"Alright, that's all of the boxes…" Serõ said while wiping off sweat from his forehead, "Are we all done here, pa?"

"Yep, Serõ," His father said as he lifts up the hood of the car, "Those boxes contains everything I need. That's all the work that you three can do today, so have well deserved break."

All three of us sighed in relief, as I started stretching my arms, "Finally… we definitely need to get food after this…"

"How about some fish balls in the Circle?" Tarã suggested. Yep, we could go with that.

"Kikiam would be great…" Serõ suggested as well. All of them are good choices.

"Whatever you wanna buy in the Circle, as long as we can eat…" I said. I am hungry, so it doesn't really matter what we order in one of those street vendors in the circle. They are all pretty good.

"Welp, if you kids are hungry," he then takes out a bag of gold coins from his pocket, which I don't think it's possible with the size of the bag, "Take this bag o' coins, extra money. You all deserve it…"

Tarã immediately takes it from her father's hands, "Gracias, pa!"

"Si, si, me hija, now go before your stomachs complain."

 **Later**

Nothing's better than eating kwek-kwek and freakin' halo-halo in a hot afternoon of March…

Seriously, it's hot in Circle…

The Circle is the name we give to the central park here in my hometown when I and my cousins we're still little squids. There's no Official name of the park that time, but when it got trending to the other youngsters in town, as well as some adults residing here, the Barangay Officials decided to officially call it the Circle. The Circle is not crowded during the afternoon, so it's the best hangout spot for most Inklings and other sea species in the town, because of its lively and peaceful atmosphere in the park.

We have bought the foods and drinks we could ever get from the usual street vendors in the park; kwek-kwek, fish balls, kikiam, black gulaman, and freakin' halo-halo. Because why not? We are having a good food trip here, so why not buy a lot, and enjoy a hot afternoon.

"Cangrejo santo, finally some more Lapunian street food," Tarã said as she eats three pieces of fish balls from her plastic cup with her small BBQ stick, and she delightfully chews on it.

"Geez, Tarã, we've been eating these like ever since we got here ever afternoon," Serõ said to his sister, while he picks up five pieces of kikiam from his plastic cup with his small BBQ stick.

"Well, you can't help it when the food's good, right, 'cus?"

"Yeah, I guess so…" I answered, while I take a small ball of kwek-kwek from my plastic cup and eat it.

We went to the usual spot we meet; an ancient narra-tree that stands proud in the central park and it is used as a symbol for Barangay Karaga. We sat down by the truck of the old narra tree, and we enjoy our food in silence.

"It's been fun, isn't it?" Tarã asked after she finishes eating all of her fish balls, "Returning back to Karaga, helping out our parents, look out for new trends, see old friends."

"Yeah, it's been a few months since we've been here." Serõ answered, as he looks onto the beautiful cloudy afternoon sky, "The last time we've been in Karaga is like after we started our Turf War careers since October. Too bad in three days we will be returning back to Inkopolis soon."

"Si," Tarã agreed. She felt saddened we have to leave so soon. Time feels too fast as it passes by in every second.

" _Wag kang magalala, 'insan_ ," I said in Lapunian, meaning 'don't worry' in short, "We could always go back here every few months, since there are festivals that are about to be held here in the barangay."

"Yeah, you're right," Tarã then takes a sip of her gulaman, "Just like old times…"

 _Just like old times…_ The words started to repeat in my head. I felt saddened, and gained sudden interest on my halo-halo. _Old times…_

Those words stopped repeated as soon as Tarã's hand is placed on my shoulder, and Serõ is looking at me with a reassuring expression, "No te preocupes, cuz," Funny, I just told her 'don't worry', now she's telling me the same words, just in a different language, "When the time comes, we'll be able to see them again."

I can't help but nod, still unconvinced. It's been too long since I last saw them, and my two cousins occasionally reassure me that I will see them again soon. I felt hopeless after the first year of their disappearance, even if they tried to reassure me from time to time.

I just sighed, and I just leaned my back against the tree trunk, and I look up at the sky through the leaves of the Narra tree, "I dunno, cuz. It's just… they are gone for so long, and it's hard to believe that they really went… _missing…_ Erh, I dunno. I don't wanna think about it…"

"Then don't," Serõ said, which is not really helping at all, "If not having thoughts on your mind for while eases your mind, then try not to think about them, relax and hope for the best."

"Hope for the best, huh?"

"Ehh, just enjoy your food," Tarã takes gulps down her black gulaman drink, "Eating while stressing out about that will not be good for both of your mind and your stomach."

I ate the rest of my halo-halo in silence.

"And if they haven't returned yet, we'll search for them, no matter where they are. Me and my brother will promise you that, Kyla."

* * *

(Foods and Drinks mentioned above are actual street foods that are very common in the streets of the Philippines.)

See you on the next story!

 **Development will be made in –** _After upload_

 **Chapter will be uploaded in** – Middle of April


	8. Reunion's Out! (Update)

**_Author's Note:_** _Hello! Welcome to an update! (wow, what an introduction, lol)_

 _Anyway, welcome! I just wanna say again that thanks for reading Splatoon – Duel, and thanks for the reviews that you readers have left in this story, and for the follows and favs! Now, to the main point of this update is to inform you that the sequel of the Duel, **Splatoon – Reunion** , is now out! Yay! The chapters in that story will be unplanned, unlike this one, which I fail to plan miserably._

 _If you finished reading this story, then go to my profile and you'll see the order of my stories, in which is under **The Kthulhu Arc**. Then click on the **Splatoon – Reunion** , and you'll go straight to the story. Again, for the fifth time, thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next Story!_


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